Wu Hongyuan calmly looked at the destroyer Taylor that was flattened by a salvo in the distance, this appetizer obviously did not satisfy his appetite, and the other 4 American destroyers that were packed in front of him were still waiting to be cleaned up, although the 4 destroyers under his jurisdiction actually had a great advantage against the same number of American destroyers, but he did not intend to suffer senseless losses in this level of engagement.

Before the decisive battle of the Grand Fleet, the only thing that he can rely on against the American Grand Fleet is the little advantage in speed, as for the Ryukyu, a meritorious battleship, although it has been modernized, it really has no advantage at all in speed against the opponent's battleship, fortunately, the Yankees are actually a tendon, except for the battleship is a destroyer...... God help me!

If there were a British battle patrol nearby, as long as the head was not dizzy, he would have run away with his butt, in that case, maybe there was only one way to attack at night, but in this situation, he had a lot of room to maneuver, and only by giving full play to the advantages of the Ryukyu could he win the most precious time for the Grand Fleet...... It's just that I haven't received any definite news from the theater command so far......

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

Just when Wu Hongyuan was thinking about how to expand the results of the battle, the sudden rumbling sound of cannons really startled him, but when he turned his head to look around, he didn't see the landing point of the shells, which made him feel a little confused, as a senior veteran sailor, he was 100% sure that this must be a heavy artillery salvo, the sound of the destroyer's small pipe, and the sound of hundreds of kilograms of heavy bombs launched, obviously very different.

Almost at the same moment, the lookout officer slammed open the iron door of the conning tower, "report...... The Zhuzhou was shelled by American battleships, the distance is relatively long, and the ship type has not yet been confirmed! ”

This news immediately caused a commotion in the room, Wu Hongyuan was the first to drop his hat, this is not a trick-taking intention, he was just about to close the door and beat the dog, so a tiger came in, but this is obviously not the time to care about appetizers, don't become someone else's dim sum......

"Immediately convey the order - implement Plan No. 3, don't let the Yankees take advantage!" Before rushing out of the command tower, Wu Hongyuan gave a new order, and the Ryukyu immediately turned the rudder to the left and leaned towards his own destroyer formation, not paying attention to the American destroyer that was beaten into three big fireballs on the sea in the distance, and when he stood on the lookout, the four destroyers at the end of his left flank had already begun to release smoke bombs, and at the same time quickly turned right to prepare to get rid of the engagement.

On the sea level on the right flank of several American destroyers, two large warships were spitting out billowing black smoke and advancing rapidly, and the rumbling cannon sound came from the American ship at the forefront...... KAO, 2 at once, although because of the smoke, I can't see the situation of the other American battleship clearly at the moment, but Wu Hongyuan is still very sure that it is definitely an American battleship!

He touched his bearded chin and leaned in front of the telescope to take a second look, these two US ships must be the formation of the US Grand Fleet operating on the flanks, and the Yankees scattered the fleet so much that it was also out of his own expectations, and the previous reconnaissance planes observed the activity pattern of the US ship formation, which was obviously not completely accurate, but this did not need to be considered at all.

How to deal with the new situation is the most important question for yourself...... On the other hand, looking at the battle situation, although they received strong reinforcements to join, the remaining 4 American destroyers were obviously not willing to end the conflict, but obviously because they had no way to take Chinese destroyers in the previous mutual shooting, although they also turned left and wanted to bite the Chinese destroyer formation, it could be seen that they did not dare to get too close, but tried to cooperate with the two battleships to intercept, hoping to destroy the opponent with the help of the battleship's firepower......

However, because the position of the Chinese destroyer formation is in the front, the space left for the destroyer formation to evacuate is not cramped, and the destroyer has a speed advantage of nearly 10 knots compared with the American battleship, and the advantage of the latest Changbaishan class is even 15 knots, so the problem of rapid evacuation is not big!

"Turn the rudder 30 degrees to the right, let's teach the American cowards a tactical lesson!" Wu Hongyuan patted the binoculars and laughed in a low voice, and then quickly climbed back to the command tower with his staff officer, at this moment he still wanted to eat 4 nimble American destroyers, which was obviously impossible, but this did not mean that he could not continue to fight, and when he stood in front of the chart, his eyes were already fixed on the strait above Tinian Island and Saipan......

"Report, enemy ships have spotted us, and one of them is heading towards us!" At this time, the report of the observation post officer interrupted Wu Hongyuan's thoughts, and this news immediately made him feel inexplicably stimulated and excited, although the Ryukyu had also played an important role in the navy a long time ago, but it had never faced today's battle situation directly!

Wu Hongyuan continued to give orders almost without hesitation, "Keep course, let's lean up, and order the destroyer to quickly break away and assemble at position No. 3!" ”

"General, the target is ranged at 22,000 meters...... Error 5%! "The firing officer on the side has already begun to report that at this moment the two sides are already head-on, and the relative speed has already exceeded 40 knots, which means that the distance between the two sides will be shortened by more than 1,000 meters every minute, and according to the routine of battleship engagement, the opponent is very likely to open fire in a few minutes.

"General, is it a Chinese battle cruiser on the other side?" On the U.S. ship that was rushing at this moment, the observation post officer stared at the Chinese warship in the distance, which seemed to be fearless in the distance, with a black line, and then asked the sturdy commander on the side.

Rear Admiral Evans, who was the commander of the powerful South Carolina dreadnought, couldn't answer this question, but another staff officer next to him reminded him, "General, I don't look like a Chinese battle cruiser, one of our intelligence does not mention that China has a battle patrol with three triple main turrets, and second, the target speed measurement determines that the speed of this battleship seems to be comparable to ours, which is far lower than the standard of the battle cruiser!" ”

Rear Admiral Evans naturally considered these factors, but what made him very incomprehensible was that since the other party was not a battle cruiser, this meant that the other side did not have any weapons that could confront him, but after entering the battlefield from the battleship South Carolina, in the face of the situation of two battleships on the battlefield, Chinese did not take the initiative to evacuate, but almost approached on a rampage...... This is completely illogical!

This made him feel slightly uneasy and confused, and made him make an unexpected but reasonable decision, "Turn the rudder 10 degrees to the right and prepare to attack the Chinese at a distance of 15,000 meters!" ”

When he saw that the US ship no longer sailed directly towards him, but deflected the bow of the ship, Wu Hongyuan was also a little surprised. It's not logical...... But soon, the Yankees came to their senses, corrected their course again, and began to turn the rudder to the left, inserting themselves in the direction between the Ryukyu and Tinian!

"General, target distance, 19,000 meters!"

"18,000 meters!" The observation post kept reminding Wu Hongyuan of the distance between the two sides.

"17,000 meters!"

At this time, the officer in the telegraph room rushed in and shouted: "General, the destroyer Sanming is coming, they have retreated to a safe distance and are preparing to try the No. 3 plan!"

Wu Hongyuan put down the binoculars in his hand at this time, and attacked the American battleship by himself, which was naturally not a brainless act of showing off his muscles, attracting the firepower of the American battleship, avoiding the destroyer formation from encountering a salvo from more than two battleships of the opponent, and reducing the danger as controllably as possible, this is his goal, and the US ship has not carried out a single shot to test the fire so far, which makes him know more about the strength of the opponent.

"Turn right with full rudder and prepare for a half salvo!" Wu Hongyuan pointed to the US ship in the distance, and loudly issued a new order, today's first battle has already achieved results, and the half-salvo at this time naturally does not expect to achieve new results, but there is no doubt that it is a little parting gift to the Yankees.

Rumble...... Rumble...... Boom Boom Boom ......

At the moment when the ship had just turned and the huge roll of the ship had just been righted, at a distance of 15,000 meters, the Ryukyu and the battleship South Carolina had the first round of calibration, but the U.S. ship only fired the first round of calibration at an interval of more than ten seconds between the two main turrets in the bow, while the Ryukyu fired a half-salvo from the side side, which was even more amazing in effect.

Immediately afterwards, the Ryukyu, which had completed the turn and went straight to the direction of Tinian, fired another round and a half salvo almost without stopping, with the loading speed of the Ryukyu triple 210mm rapid-fire gun, if it was fired in half salvo, it could completely achieve continuous fire at an interval of 5 seconds.

But there is no doubt that the deterrent effect of such shooting is still very impressive...... Rear Admiral Evans, who was standing in the commander tower of the battleship South Carolina, clearly felt the pressure, he had received accurate information from the destroyer formation, and the opponent's artillery was only 8-inch main guns, and it was obvious that this was just an armored ship, which made him immediately make the decision to chase and fight.

It's just that although it seems that he is now in a position to chase after the opponent, he has no advantage over the opponent at all in terms of speed, as for the bow of the ship, the battleship South Carolina has two 12-inch main guns in the bow, because of the large waves, coupled with the serious pitch of the front and rear, the so-called school shooting is really a bit nonsense!

On the other hand, the opponent's artillery skills were able to seize the opportunity to fire a half-salvo when the rudder turned sharply and the hull of the ship almost reached 40 degrees of rolling. It's just that in the current situation, although he knew that he could not do anything, Rear Admiral Evans saw the wreckage of the three destroyers still on fire on the sea, and still frowned and ordered, "Pursue, drive away the Chinese!" (To be continued.) )