The three U.S. destroyers that were following and trying to expel the Yongzhou did not expect that another Chinese destroyer, the Heyuan, did not open the distance after quietly disappearing into the night, but quietly followed behind, and made full use of the speed to jam the best angle of the flank and fired 12 torpedoes in a row, and when the Yongzhou maneuvered to evade the U.S. torpedoes and kept counterattacking, the U.S. destroyer Kimberley on the right flank did not find it until the torpedo approached less than 50 meters.

The 21-inch torpedo directly hit the tail of the Kimberley destroyer, and the 3-inch destroyer's armor was almost like paper paste for the powerful torpedo explosion, and the entire tail of the battleship, including the twin-shaft propeller, was directly torn apart, and the violent explosion also gave the battleship a huge impact, and the Kimberley, which was more than 1,000 tons, was directly lifted out of the water by the explosion, and then rolled on its side at sea.

This sudden explosion immediately made the other two American destroyers go crazy, and the courage of the three chasing one was immediately completely shattered, and when the two ships naturally realized that they had changed from hunters to prey, they immediately turned to prepare to move closer to the battleship, at least, the battleship's powerful firepower was enough to deter the Chinese destroyers!

The Yongzhou and Heyuan were naturally unwilling to let the US ships evacuate easily, but considering that approaching the shelling meant exposing themselves to the high-hit areas of the battleships Delaware and Nebraska, especially the large-caliber main guns possessed by the other side, they definitely had a lethal effect, so after some mutual fire, although the two American destroyers were hit in several places, they had quickly moved closer to the battleships!

Seizing this critical moment, the destroyer Heyuan fired six flares in a row at the possible direction of the battleship Delaware, which had already escaped into the night, fortunately, the fourth flare successfully captured the Delaware, which was making a sharp turn, and the reason why it was able to successfully predict was largely due to the two American destroyers that were scurrying around, and it was their withdrawal direction that exposed the direction in which the American fleet was preparing to withdraw.

In less than five minutes, the Shanxi battleship, which was in close pursuit, immediately fired a high-quality group of rapid shots, and in three salvos with an interval of less than one minute, it achieved a close miss less than 20 meters away from the Delaware battleship in the first round.

A close loss of less than 20 meters meant that the battleship Delaware was already in the coverage zone of the opponent's salvo theory, and Commodore Lucius, who received the report, immediately ordered to turn 20 degrees to the left and prepare for maneuver...... The reason why he did not choose a high-angle steering or a full rudder steering was naturally because Brigadier Lucius still wanted to continue to distance himself rather than being shortened by the opponent.

The terrible situation of being beaten passively is undoubtedly the worst situation for a senior officer, but now, in the face of the almost crushing night battle of the Chinese Navy, he has almost no choice but to leave the battle immediately and save his strength!

As soon as the order was given, another salvo from the Guangzhou and Shanxi had already roared, and the shells had already swept over the battleship with a dull whistling sound, making everyone's tense nerves almost collapse...... But at least, the 930 officers and soldiers on board once again dripped a desperate round of fighting in this suffocating war.

"General, the left side of the battleship is 30 degrees, and the distance is 30 and 50 meters, respectively, 2 close misses!" The lookout officer was surprised to report the bad situation to Lucius, in one minute, the battleship Delaware sailing at full speed of 20 knots was able to move nearly 600 meters, considering the high-speed maneuvering of the two sides on the sea, coupled with the deflection course of the Delaware, but the other side still played with surprisingly accurate accuracy, what this means, the officers in the command tower naturally knew very well!

Lucius naturally knows better that the best shooting officers of the U.S. Navy that he knows may be able to achieve a similar accuracy rate if they are trained to do so, but the Dreyer integrated fire control platform used by the U.S. Navy, once the target is maneuvering at a large angle, the commander will choose to maneuver at the same angle, and then adjust the aiming parameters with the most efficient ranging as the reference standard, but whether it can hit accurately or not is completely beyond human control!

"Turn right 20 degrees!" Lucius didn't hesitate to give the opposite order a minute earlier, readjusting course and disrupting his opponent's shot while trying to keep as far distance as possible.

As soon as the order was given, a dazzling fire suddenly appeared on the battleship Nebraska, which was closely following 1,000 meters behind, and the flying black smoke and sparks burned directly to the halfway waist of the cage lookout, and then, a large mess of debris was thrown out in all directions...... The bad result came so quickly!

At this moment, the joint attack on the Nebraska battleship is the battleship Dayu and the Qin-class battle patrol wolf, both of which can only be regarded as the backbone of the navy in the pre-dreadnought era, especially the battleship Dayu with the blood of the Royal Navy.

Dayu battleship 3 twin 12 inches from the original 45 times the diameter of the increase to 50 times the diameter, this is actually also to cooperate with the upgrade of the naval fire control system, after all, the original 10,000-meter range is already the combat limit, before the outbreak of World War I, the Royal Navy has begun to discuss the field of view on the limit of the gunnery, the weight of the shell, the length of the increase in the muzzle velocity, are the key to directly affect the hit rate of the shell!

The Qin-class Battle Survey Sky Patrol Wolf, which shone in the Cuban crisis, also made similar improvements, raising the original six 13.5-inch main guns from 40 times the diameter to 45 times the diameter of the technology, but overall, due to the lack of single-caliber main guns, the salvo strike effect was obviously not comparable to that of the dreadnoughts that served later.

But in today's night battle, Dayu and the Sky Wolf were bold enough, and the Sky Wolf Battle Patrol took advantage of its speed to quietly deviate from the battle line, narrowing the distance by nearly 2,000 meters, and finally the Sky Wolf took the lead in hitting the two main dreadnoughts, which was undoubtedly caused by the positive combat attitude of the battleship commander Zheng Donghe!

What hit the battleship Nebraska was a 343mm armor-piercing shell fired from the C gun position of the Sirius, and the big guy weighing 430 kg hit the Nebraska 3 and the one behind the big chimney at a large angle, which was more than 20 meters high The big chimney fell apart the moment it was hit by such a large kinetic energy, and the armor-piercing bullet did not explode due to the penetration of the chimney.

The battleship Nebraska was the first generation of battleships in the pre-American dreadnought era to be equipped with secondary guns, in addition to six 12-inch main guns, eight 8-inch secondary guns were installed on both sides between the two cage lookouts, and it was a full-hood turret design.

In the face of the Chinese Navy's 343mm cap-piercing shell, even the 12-inch Harvey steel armor of the main gun of the battleship Nebraska may not be able to resist it, not to mention the only 8-inch armor of the secondary secondary gun.

The entire turret was pulled up directly from the deck of the battleship like a bottle cap, and the 8-meter thick gun tube was directly blown into a curved shape, flying up to a height of five or six meters, and then smashed heavily on the right side of the ship.

The ensuing fire and air waves swept directly across all the non-steel structures on the right deck, even the chimney that had just broken and smashed, and the rising flames illuminated the Nebraska battleship clearly!

"Nebraska is finished......" Standing at the observation window of the command tower, Lucius, who looked solemn, heard a soft sigh from the staff officer next to him, and couldn't help but be a little depressed...... If he had judged the situation for himself before nightfall, he would never have considered the battleship Nebraska, which was the first to be shot, to be in a miserable situation...... It is not easy to sink a battleship with 12-inch main armor and 8-inch thick armor in a waterproof isolation capsule, even if it is a target ship!

It's just that the tragic ending of the battleship Louisiana makes this interpretation have a strange logic, although the armor and firepower of the Louisiana are not as good as the battleship Nebraska, which was launched two years late, and the difference in armor is not much different from 11 inches and 12 inches, but it capsized on the sea in just 10 minutes of engagement, and the fate of more than 800 US Navy officers is unknown.

"Order the destroyers to attack!" Lucius was obviously not willing to suffer another heavy blow, almost instantly, he made a firm choice, he still had 2 Vickers-class destroyers on hand, and 3 destroyers that had been used as decoys to move closer to the fleet, if the destroyers could buy a vital breather for the battleship Nebraska to manage, then the fleet still had a chance to escape, and the destroyer's high speed and the concealment of the torpedo attack obviously had a good survivability...... If a miracle happens, you might even be able to achieve a result!

In this case, perhaps the US Navy can only pray for a miracle! No...... It should be a miracle!

After a short silence, the staff officer on the side also immediately ordered a telegram to let the two destroyers that had just completed the damage management under the escort of the battleships prepare to attack, and ordered the two destroyers to fire at least 12 or more torpedoes at the two Chinese battleships that were shelling the battleship Nebraska, so as to force the other side to make tactical maneuvers and buy a respite for their own side! (To be continued.) )