Now is the time to decide the fortunes of the country!

Every officer and soldier who participated in this naval battle, whether Chinese or British, knew this. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoAt present, the most powerful sea force in time has set up a formation, rushing towards each other like a wild horse, and the splash of the majestic bow of the ship will make everyone who participated in this sea battle and was lucky enough to survive unforgettable.

Victory or defeat, they have at least fought dutifully for the motherland!

"Report, 17,000 kilometers away."

"Sixteen thousand kilometers."

"Fifteen thousand kilometers."

"Fourteen thousand kilometers."

The sound of the navigation staff report one after another made the atmosphere in the Guangfu suddenly tense, compared to the opposite side of the sixteen capital ships (including four large patrol ships), and there are more than forty 16-inch cannons! With the voice, everyone's hearts rose to their throats.

Looking at the splash of water on the opposite bow and the ever-magnifying shadow of the ship, Arthur. The distractions in Hood's heart were also eliminated little by little. Although he, like Feng Ziye, the commander of the Ming Nanyang Fleet, didn't want to fight a decisive battle so early - after all, half of the capital ships of the British Empire were still in the Atlantic Ocean and the British mainland! But now, there is nothing to think about, the British Empire can only have a future if it fights this war well!

"Concentrate firepower, target, the Chinese army's flagship Guangfu!"

At 10 a.m. [a] [this read] the novel o'clock 20 a.m., when the closest distance between the two sides was shortened to within 10,000 meters, Arthur. Admiral Hood gave the order to open fire. 42 16-inch/22-caliber cannons, 2 10-inch cannons, and 2 9-inch cannons roared at the same time! 46 huge shells suddenly turned into small black dots, whistling towards the battleship Guangfu!

Boom Boom Boom ......

The first wave of shells fell! One of them even landed about 50 meters on the port side of the Guangfu, setting off a 10-meter-high column of water!

Whether it's Feng Ziye. Or ordinary officers and sailors of the Ming Navy. None of them were frightened by the raining shells. Anyone who has worked in the Navy for a few years in this era knows it. 100 shots and 100 hits is a joke in naval artillery. One or two out of a hundred is the jargon. As for when this percentage of hits will be cashed in, it largely depends on luck, of course...... And the rate of fire! This is the advantage of rapid-fire guns, the general large-caliber rack gun shoots one shot in a few minutes, while the smaller-caliber rapid-fire gun shoots several rounds a minute, compared with the two, it is nearly 10 times the difference in rate of fire. With the same hit rate, the advantage of rapid-fire guns is very obvious.

And the 46 main guns of the British were all old-fashioned erection guns - not that their cannon technology was not good. Rather, it is the result of their pursuit of large-caliber main guns. Now Britain's largest caliber rapid-fire gun is about the same as here in Daming, Daming is 210mm/40 times the diameter, and Britain is 8 inches/42 times the diameter, which is basically the same level. However, instead of installing 8-inch rapid-fire guns on their battleships, the British opted for powerful but slow 16-inch cannons.

"It's good not an 8-inch rapid-fire gun." Finding that his battleship was intact, Admiral Feng Ziye smiled faintly, the next salvo of the British's main guns was 5 minutes later, and by that time, the number had already turned around and the British's main guns couldn't hit!

In an instant, his brow furrowed again. Zhu Guoguang's Tianjin will be under the muzzle of the British cannon at that time! How can the Tianjin, which is more than 4,000 tons, withstand a 16-inch shell!

"Commander, it's time to turn!" Chief of Staff Zhao Dalong reminded loudly at this time.

"Let's turn!" Feng Ziye gave the order. Then I prayed to the gods and Buddhas in my heart. Don't let Zhu Guoguang have any accidents...... When this battle is won, he must be transferred to the flagship as a fleet staff officer, so that it is safer!

"Right full rudder!" The captain of the Guangfu received the order from Feng Ziye and immediately shouted loudly.

"Full rudder right!" The first mate shouted in response, and the third officer at the helm used all his strength to turn the steering wheel to the left to the bottom. The huge deck of the Guangfu tilted sharply to the right, and the roaring steam engine had accelerated to the limit, driving the four crankshafts to rotate rapidly, and the rudder under the water turned sharply, directing the water from the rotation of the propeller to the left.

Then, everyone in the command tower of the Empress of India saw that less than 10,000 meters in front of them, a white water wave with an angle of about 90 degrees rolled up, and the battleship Guangfu took the lead in turning right, and the 9 Chinese capital ships followed by also performed a right full rudder maneuver at the same time!

The Chinese battleship formations turned to the right!?

Why didn't their cruiser formations turn to the left?

This question came to everyone's minds at the same time, and the answer immediately came - guess wrong, you will be unlucky!

All eyes were on Arthur. Hood, as if he had seen a lot of bad luck in his head—this man was probably the unlucky man who lost the fortunes of the British Empire! All the people sighed in their hearts.

Arthur. Admiral Hood's mind went blank, and he stared blankly at Ray. Aspen. As if asking: 'How do you teach Chinese as a teacher?' It turned out to be a slower battleship in a detour, and it was a thinner armored cruiser that was shelled in front! This is equivalent to letting the infantry drag the artillery around in a detour in a land battle, and let the cavalry line up and shoot...... It's completely unreasonable! ’

Asben shook his head bitterly, "I didn't teach, it must be that Feng Ziye, the commander of the Chinese fleet, was deserting during class...... This guy's grades are very poor, and I don't know how to go and what shit luck actually became a commander! ’

Boom Boom Boom ......

The roar of artillery interrupted everyone's thoughts in the Commander's Tower of the Empress of India, and the 13 British capital ships (3 without bow cannons) completed another salvo, and the first-class British gunners took only 4 minutes to load and aim, and then empty all 46 shells.

'Oops! I forgot to give the order to adjust the target of the shelling, what a mistake in the busyness! 'Arthur. Hood shook his head with a smile - because the 16 British capital ships on the sea were in a horizontal formation, and the Chinese battleship column was from the left front of this horizontal formation, and if they continued to move forward or turn to the left, and sailed past the front of the British column, the Guangfu would of course be the best live target. 46 British cannons could complete at least 3 salvos and fire 138 shells, and according to the probability of 1 in 100, 2 16-inch shells should hit the Guangfu. And Arthur. Hood also ordered the ships to use blasting shells to attack. If two 16-inch explosive shells were hit, the battleship Guangfu would be drowned in a sea of fire, even if it did not sink, and most of them would lose its combat effectiveness and would not be able to continue commanding the battle. In this way, there will definitely be chaos in the fleet of the Chinese, and the British Eastern fleet will be able to retreat in its entirety.

However, the Chinese battleship formation actually chose to turn to the right and make a detour to the left flank of the British ship. In this way, the Guangfu, which was already in front of the left side of the British ship's column, turned to the left and sailed, basically out of the effective range of the main guns of the ships in the middle and right flanks of the British ship's column, and of course it could not be hit......

"Commander, the Chinese cruiser formations also began to turn, also to the right!" Thunder. Aspen yelled. Arthur. Hood lifted the binoculars to take a look, and sure enough! A large number of cruisers, led by the armored cruiser Minami Naoli, were making a mighty right turn. Because they used to be from the right front of the British ship, and if they turn right now, they will pass through the front of the British ship!

"Commander, concentrate your fire on the large armored cruiser in the lead! It is...... It was supposed to be the flagship of the cruiser detachment of the Chinese army. Aspen said "yes" because he didn't see the flagship flag on the Minami Naoli...... However, theoretically, the largest warship rushing to the front should be the flagship, if the Chinese navy still knows the theory.

"Alright, concentrate your firepower and beat it flat!" Arthur. Hood gritted his teeth and ordered, "Let the right flank formation turn left and use a horizontal formation to attack the roundabout Chinese battleships." Tell Hopkins to be quick! (To be continued......)