The sudden explosion in the darkness surprised Tang Zhen, who was standing in front of the lookout window, and the location was obviously not where the US fleet was, and almost in no particular order, the news came from the observation tower and the telegraph room that made him sad -- the destroyer "Wuzhou" was torpedoed by the US fleet, and the other side fired at least 12 torpedoes, one of which hit the front of the battleship Wuzhou.

"Order the destroyer Heyuan to immediately replace the Wuzhou, and must ensure the coverage of the flares of the main American fleet! In addition, the destroyer formations were ordered to strengthen the anti-mine escort! Tang Zhen squinted his eyes and looked at the direction of the Wuzhou that was burning in the dark night in the distance, and gave the order without hesitation, the accompanying destroyers not only needed to provide escort for the battleship in the night battle, but also had to perform the crucial task of firing flares at the approach.

In fact, the danger of this task is self-evident; if the main fleet cannot cover the US battleships in time and form a suppressive strike, the destroyers located within 10,000 meters will encounter a strong threat from the secondary guns and secondary guns on the opponent's capital ships, and the 150mm and 210mm secondary guns equipped with the three US battleships will be enough to counterattack in more than ten seconds when using the firing commander.

Therefore, the destroyers Wuzhou and Yongzhou, which are responsible for this task, can hardly carry out counterattacks against approaching targets except for firing flares, but can only perform a zigzag maneuver to evade ...... The American destroyers apparently seized this opportunity, entered the torpedo launch area under the cover of the artillery fire of the main fleet, and carried out at least 4 waves of omnidirectional attacks on the Wuzhou.

On the Yongzhou destroyer, the young destroyer commander Major Zhou Bui looked angrily at the Wuzhou that was burning thousands of kilometers away, after several rounds of explosions in a row, the new Changbaishan-class destroyer that had only been launched for 2 years had capsized on its side on the sea, and the commander of the Wuzhou destroyer, Major Ma Ming, had been his friend for many years, but at this moment, in addition to wishing himself that his robe could survive, there was obviously something more important!

He knocked heavily on the table, "Immediately prepare for the next round of flare firing, **** Yankees, make them pay!" ”

Boom Boom Boom ......

A few seconds later, as 3 artillery flames tore through the night, 3 flares were suddenly projected into the sky near the battleship Delaware, revealing the American fleet that was preparing to dive into the night! Less than 10 seconds later, the Yongzhou destroyer, ignoring the danger of being exposed again, fired another three flares into the airspace controlled by the "Wuzhou" destroyer!

Considering that the American battleships were in a very unfavorable battle line duel, he had selectively ignored the powerful secondary guns of the battleship Delaware from more than 9,000 meters away on the flank, but the four Vickers-class destroyers defending the American fleet were likely to have rushed towards him!

"Right full rudder!" The moment the cannon flame dissipated, Zhou Bui immediately shouted out his tactical maneuver order, before the friendly ship accepted the mission of the Wuzhou destroyer, he had to take on the task perfectly, but the torpedo threat under the dark night, he was obviously also deeply worried, "The mobile officer, the deputy gun, and the manpower of the damage control immediately went to the port side to observe, pay attention to the torpedo track!" ”

Boom...... Boom......

The main fleet in the distance once again fired an exhilarating salvo, but this was obviously not enough to solve the current crisis of Zhou Bui, and the dark night brought the Chinese Navy an excellent opportunity to attack this time, but the enraged enemy would not sit still!

"Major, the next round of flare projection has entered the countdown to 60 seconds!" Colleagues on the side reported to him loudly!

"Command to sail at full speed! After 30 seconds, turn the rudder 45 degrees to the left! Prepare for shelling! Zhou Bui stared at the sea in the deep night, at this moment the Yankee destroyer must have quietly approached him, perhaps, had already shot a deadly torpedo...... After 60 seconds, he will take the initiative to reveal his position again, but this will bring a huge advantage to his comrades, so all this effort will have great value!

At this moment, in the dark night less than 4,000 meters away from the Yongzhou, the destroyers Stoton and the destroyers Leader were also sailing at full speed, Captain Pete was holding the binoculars and staring into the distance, the battle situation was rapidly sliding to the side that was unfavorable to the United States, which even the low-level soldiers could see, the powerful main fleet actually suffered a fatal blow in just ten minutes of the opponent's night attack, the battleship Louisiana had become a huge fireball at this moment, and the opponent's main fleet was far outside the attack circle.

Therefore, as soon as possible, knocking out the destroyers that fired flares from the Chinese has obviously become the key to the survival of the fleet, before the two ships fired more than ten torpedoes at the exposed Chinese destroyers in a row, fortunately knocked out one of the other destroyers, and the other Chinese destroyer Although it was hidden in the darkness at the moment, he believed that he had narrowed the distance to carry out saturation torpedo attacks, and now he is only waiting for the other party to reveal his position again, as long as it is within his own attack range, it will be a very favorable opportunity.

Boom Boom Boom ...... In the distant night sky behind him, the cannon flame of another salvo of the Chinese battleship group once again burned the sky, which made the corner of Captain Pete's eyes twitch a few times, and he could only pray for God to bless his colleagues who were within the range of the Chinese battleship group......

"Watch the observations...... The Chinese may soon be firing flares! Pete yelled at the officer behind him, and before he could finish speaking, in the dark night in front of him, three red cannon flames immediately excited him.

"Captain, on the left, no more than 3000 meters!" The officer shouted excitedly.

"Ready...... Launch! ”

"Reload now, get ready for a second launch!" A series of orders sounded on the USS Steaton, and in the dark night, several white lines flashed across the rough sea, and the Vickers-class destroyers were equipped with four triple torpedo tubes, but only six torpedoes could be fired at a time without turning.

Captain Pete stared into the distance, at a distance of 3,000 meters, at the speed of a 12-inch American-made torpedo, it would take less than 3 minutes, and, not surprisingly, the destroyer USS Leader who was traveling with him must have completed the torpedo launch...... Once the Chinese destroyer is sunk, it will mean that it will be difficult for the Chinese to continue to effectively track the American fleet, so that at least the fleet can use the night to get rid of the Chinese.

At this moment, the officer at the observation window suddenly turned his head and shouted at the telegraph room, "There seems to be a ship on the right rear side, is the Leader yawed?" ”

Captain Pete was also stunned, and was considering whether to make telegraph contact, when a series of dazzling cannon flames suddenly flashed in the night, and before the destroyer Stoton could react, the shells were already whistling, and then, the command tower shook violently, and the violent explosion was wrapped in black smoke and obscured everyone's sight.

"Enemy attack...... Enemy attack ......"

"Fight back!!"

There was a sudden chaos on the Stuton, in the dark night, all in the immediate position, a series of artillery fire was violently sprayed, the 37mm machine gun Kata Tower fired, and the battleship was a clanging noise, when the bow 100mm main gun hurriedly prepared to counterattack, in just 2 minutes, the Stoton destroyer had been hit by at least 7 small-caliber shells.

Explosions occurred one after another in the battleship's command tower, stern and central area, and in the skyrocketing fire, many American soldiers who rushed to the damage jumped into the sea in panic and screams, and the command tower under the light of artillery fire immediately became the target of the fire, although it had 3 inches of armor, but it was obviously not protected from the fire of the incoming opponent.

The distance between the two sides was less than 1,500 meters, which was almost a hand-to-hand combat for a battleship, although the night affected the horizon of shooting, and the hit rate of both sides was obviously extremely high in such a short distance......

After less than 3 minutes of mutual fire, the destroyer Strotton was hit by at least 20 bullets, the superstructure of the battleship was almost completely destroyed, and a raging fire ignited, and there were also two obvious damage points at the waterline of the side chord, causing the battleship to quickly stall and permeate the water!

Seeing that the Yongzhou destroyer had taken the initiative to take over the flare task that it had changed to undertake, the Heyuan immediately changed its role and prepared to sweep away the threat for the friendly ship, and after quietly closing the distance, it unexpectedly almost collided with the Stockton destroyer.

At this moment, there were also several open flames on the destroyer Heyuan, which was hit by the destroyer Stoton's hasty counterattack, but to the surprise of Captain Pete, who had already died, the destroyer Lead, which was closely behind, did not fire a single shot in the few minutes when the two sides were fiercely close to each other! (To be continued.) )