When Samoville was desperate, Chang Jiexin became excited. Before the engagement, he simply hoped to destroy two or three enemy battleships before suffering heavy losses. At the very least, force them out of the battlefield, so that they can reverse the disadvantage in their forces and engage in a decent artillery battle with their opponents, so that the British Navy, which has always believed that it has the best artillery experts in the world, will know the power of the Imperial Navy's battleships. However, the actual results were far better than Chang Zhixin expected. In just over an hour, two British battleships had been sunk, one had been wrecked, and two more British battleships had been forced out of the battle. What's more, the five battleships in Task Force 3 did not suffer much damage at all, and all of them maintained full combat effectiveness. Perhaps, the only thing Chang Zhixin regretted at this time was the telegram sent to Task Force 6. According to the situation at this time, even if the Sixth Task Force was thousands of miles away, he would be able to take out the British Home Fleet, and he would not need the help of the Sixth Task Force at all!

When the last turret of the "Nelson" was blown away, Chang Jiexin ordered several other warships to come close. At this time, the situation on the battlefield was extremely favorable for Task Force 3, with five "new provincial capitals" against three "Queen Elizabeth" with a main gun ratio of 45 to 24. Of course, what attracted Chang Zhixin's attention the most were the flaws of the British fleet that he had discovered in the previous battles.

The first is that the shelling of British battleships hit frighteningly low. In the entire artillery battle, except for the "Guiyang" and "Nanchang" which were hit many times, only the "Nanning" was hit once. It can be said that the hit rate of the British battleships was far worse than that of the 3rd task force. The second is the power of those 15-inch and 16-inch armor-piercing shells. This often recommended new is a personal feeling. The armor-piercing shell that hit the "Nanning" was not able to penetrate the frontal armor of the turret and did not even cause much damage to the turret. This illustrates two problems, one is that the British battleships are not strong in long-distance combat at night, and the power of the ground armor-piercing shells used on British battleships is not enough.

With these two understandings, Chang Jianxin knows what to do. If you can. Then maintain a distance of 12 nautical miles and fight an asymmetrical battle, so that the enemy cannot effectively return fire at all. The problem was that the battle was not decided by a new man, and the task force of the 3rd Task Force was to block the British fleet bound for Pontesmouth Harbour, rather than to pursue the British fleet, and its speed advantage was difficult to exploit in a blocking battle. If Satsumville is determined to make a sudden turn, then Task Force 3 will not be able to retreat, and it will naturally not be able to continue to fight the enemy from a distance!

Around five o'clock. Chang Zhixin received a report that the radar had detected unusual movements in the British fleet. The three battered battleships had turned to the northeast and were out of battle, and there was no way to stop them. After all, he couldn't divide his forces to pursue the British battleships that were fleeing at this time, and even if those three battleships escaped, they would be difficult to repair in a short period of time, and they were not much different from sinking in battle. The other three "Queen Elizabeth"-class battleships are continuing to sail in a northwesterly direction, and they have already begun to accelerate!

"It's clear that Samoville is ready to break through!" The nautical staff marked the course of the British fleet on the chart, and "with only three battleships left, it was already impossible for Satsumville to win." The three battleships that withdrew from the battle must have gone to Eastbourne, or Hastings. But it doesn't matter if it's Eastbourne. Neither Hastings nor Hastings were in a position to help the battleships, so the only way out for Summerville was the port of Puffmouth, and he would definitely have to try to get into it. ”

"But why didn't he return to the North Sea?" The operational staff officer did not immediately agree with the judgment of the nautical staff officer.

"Unlikely, there is still more than an hour before dawn, and it is impossible for Satmoville to pass through the Strait of Dover at night, if it enters the strait after dawn. It will be easy to be hit by bombers, and there will be no room for evasion at that time. Chang Jianxin briefly analyzed, "Now we can't control the three escaped battleships, we must kill the other three battleships as soon as possible." ”

"But the enemy is approaching, and if we continue to hold on to this line, we will have to engage the enemy at close range." The seafaring staff also saw that the British fleet lacked the ability to fight from a distance.

"There's no way, we don't suffer in close combat, and now we have five battleships. And there are only three ships in Samoville, and the number of main guns is close to two to one. Even if it is a close fight, Summerville can't take advantage of it, not to mention, he still needs time to close the distance, and he needs time to adjust the formation, which is definitely a good thing for us! ”

Several staff officers nodded, and at least on the question of whether to fight or not, no one raised objections.

"Then, rearrange the order of engagement." Chang Jianxin glanced at everyone, "First concentrate firepower to kill the British battleship at the front, and after the distance is shortened, the 'Nanning' will deal with the enemy's No. 1 ship alone, and the other four ships will still follow the previous combat principles, try to fight two to one, and determine the result as soon as possible!" ”

The order was swiftly conveyed, and the 3rd Task Force was invincible in the case of fighting more with less, and now that it was fighting more and fighting less, it was even less likely to fail. Moreover, for the gunners on the battleship, they preferred close combat, after all, at a distance of more than 20,000 yards, the hit rate of the main gun was too low, and when this distance was shortened to within 10,000 yards, the hit rate of the main gun could even reach two percent, that is, one salvo could hit the enemy with two shells, which would be able to destroy the enemy more quickly.

The battle resumed at five o'clock and four o'clock, shortly after Summerville ordered the fleet to accelerate, by which time the three Queen Elizabeth-class battleships had completed their turn and were moving diagonally, with the Queen Elizabeth at the front, with the Barham also flanking to the right, followed by the Gold Coast. The five battleships in the Third Task Force also adjusted their guns at this time, and the formation order did not change, and the closest to the "Queen Elizabeth" was the "Guangzhou" behind the "Nanning", about 12 nautical miles. According to the new requirements, before the British fleet approached, the five battleships would concentrate their firepower to bombard the enemy's No. 1 ship, that is, the flagship of the British home fleet, the "Queen Elizabeth".

The first salvo of the restart will be much more accurate than before. A total of 43 Type 20 armor-piercing shells were fired from the five battleships, three of which fell within 200 meters of the "Queen Elizabeth" and two within 50 meters of the ship. Although the shelling still did not directly hit the target, its close mid-range rate has improved considerably, indicating that the gunners have adapted to the battle.

At five o'clock in six minutes, the second round of salvo achieved the first result. Two of the 44 huge bombs fired this time hit, and one of them hit the helm of the "Queen Elizabeth" above the bow of the ship, directly blowing off the nose of the battleship. Another shell that fell from a high altitude smashed into the aft deck of the battleship. This is a relatively beautiful straddle shot, but its hit rate is still not high.

In fact, the hit rate at this time could not be calculated in the same way as before, and in the drama exhibition on the side of the battle line, the wide side of the battleship was undoubtedly exposed, so the aiming point was much larger. In addition, the ships sailed in parallel, and the relative speed was not large, so it was relatively simple to calculate the amount of advance. And now the British battleships were breaking through at high speed, and at the time of the engagement, their speed had exceeded 16 knots, and only the front of the battleship was exposed to the enemy's guns, and the aiming point was much smaller. All these factors affected the hit rate of the shelling.

The battleships in the British fleet did not fall silent either, and at the time of the breakout, the main guns in front of the three "Queen Elizabeth" class battleships were firing. But the problem is that the four twin 15-inch main gun turrets of the "Queen Elizabeth" class are arranged in the front and rear. Thus, at the time of the breakout, only the two turrets in front were able to be used, and the intensity of their fire was halved. That is to say, only 12 main guns could be used on the three battleships, and on the five battleships of the third task force, several main guns on the "Nanchang" and "Guiyang" were reduced a lot because of minor malfunctions. It is difficult to participate in every salvo outside. All other main guns can be used. This one comes. The firepower of the two sides was pulled apart again. (Fastest update: n).

In fact, this is also the fundamental reason why the battleships made efforts to seize the prefix "D" and formed the basic tactics of the battleline decisive battle. Again, it was for this reason that Satsumville had not allowed the fleet to advance and break through before, but by the time he thought of forcing a breakthrough, the situation was already very unfavorable for him. When the shells continued to fall, exploding on the sea around the battleship, and occasionally hitting the battleship, one can imagine what kind of mood Samoville would have been in at that time.

Summerville's anxiety did not last long, and by 5:18 a.m., the "Guiyang" fired a sixth salvo, and of the eight shells fired, two of them hit, and in the same round of shelling, none of the other four battleships could hit the target. Moreover, there was also a shell that directly hit the bridge of the tall commander of the "Queen Elizabeth". At this time, the engagement distance had been reduced to 8 nautical miles, that is, about 16,000 yards. At this distance, the Type 26 armor-piercing projectile could easily penetrate the conning tower armor on the "Queen Elizabeth" that was only 11 inches thick. This armor-piercing projectile did penetrate this layer of armor. And just inside the bridge, the inside of the commander's bridge exploded, and more than 30 officers and men of the British Home Fleet Command, including Sarmoville, were all blown to pieces, leaving not even a trace of their existence. If the gunners of the "Guiyang" C turret had known that the shell they fired had killed the commander of the British Home Fleet, they would have been unable to sleep for several nights.

By about half past five, the "Queen Elizabeth" had basically been destroyed. Although the power system installed at the rear of the battleship was not directly hit, and the battleship still maintained a speed of 24 knots, the entire front of the battleship was shattered. The two forward turrets were completely destroyed, the conning tower was blown into a twisted shape, and the secondary artillery groups located under the sides of the commander's bridge were also blown into ruins.

By this time. The distance between the two sides has been shortened to 4 nautical miles, that is, around 9,000 yards. At this distance, both ground armor-piercing shells have enough power to penetrate the opponent's main armor. In other words, the five "new provincial capital" class ships in the third task force are no longer "safe". But Chang Zhixin did not order the fleet to turn at this time, but only let five battleships transfer targets at the same time, among which "Nanning", "Guangzhou", and "Guiyang" simultaneously dealt with the No. 2 enemy ship. "Wuhan" and "Nanchang" against the No. 3 enemy ship have already been destroyed, and the No. 1 enemy ship has no striking value.

The three British battleships also did not turn at this time. Chang Jianxin didn't know that Satsumville had been killed, and thought that Summerville was resolutely breaking through, so he didn't let the fleet turn. In fact, by this time the three British battleships had lost their unified command. The captains of the "Barham" and the "Gold Coast" had no choice but to follow the previous orders, as they had not been able to receive new orders and to contact the flagship.

The fight is still one-sided to the ground. After three to one and two to one, and the engagement distance was reduced to within 10,000 yards, there was no suspense in the battle. Even if the "Barham" and the "Gold Coast" can pose a certain threat to the new recruits, but under the high-density firepower, the main gun turrets on these two battleships have become the focus of attention, and the hit rate of the shelling is already a little frightening, how effective can their counterattacks be?

The speed at which the tide of battle turned was also a bit surprising to Chang Zhixin, who already had a premonition that the British fleet had lost its unified command. It stands to reason that when the enemy's shelling was so dense that the breakout turned into a death, Sarmoville, if he had any sense, should have ordered the fleet to turn out of the battle, rather than crash into it. But the British battleship did not turn. Of course, this is just Chang Zhixin's suspicion, because he doesn't know that the No. 1 enemy ship is Satsuma's flagship, and he doesn't know that Samoville has been killed, so he can still only believe that Samoville is forcibly breaking through!

At the same time, the captains of the "Barham" and the "Gold Coast" were also suspicious of this problem, and they received the news that the commander of the fleet had died after half past five. Immediately, the captains of the "Barham" and the "Gold Coast" thought of fleeing for their lives, but it was too late to escape!