As it slopes westward, Manila Bay is still roaring with artillery and gunsmoke.

Across the water radium area at the mouth of the bay, the Chinese and British fleets fired at each other.

The range of the main guns of the Chinese fleet was nearly twice as long as that of the main guns of the British fleet, which made the British navy suffer greatly, and most of the time it was passively beaten.

During this period, many British ships were hit by the artillery fire of the Chinese fleet, and the hull of the ship was damaged, and the casualties were very large.

The naval battles of the ironclad era were far more fierce than those of the wooden warship era, because the wooden battleships could not withstand such artillery fire at all, and they would be sunk in minutes, thus ending the battle.

However, for ironclad ships, the thick wrought iron armor is difficult to penetrate, and the blasting shell can only destroy the unarmored or weakly armored buildings on the upper layer of the ironclad ship, and the destructive power is more than enough, and the penetration power is not enough to cause fatal damage to the ironclad ship. However, although the armor-piercing projectile has strong penetrating power, due to process problems, the explosive power is insufficient, and after penetrating the armor, it can only destroy the facilities on the ballistic line, and cannot bloom in all directions like the blasting projectile, causing huge destructive power.

In this way, the ironclad ship became a thick-skinned meat shield, blocking the front line of the battle, which greatly prolonged the time of naval warfare.

The British fleet persevered in the discharge of radium, and by dusk, most of the water radium area had been eliminated and detected.

Seeing that he was about to break through the defense line of the Shuilei area, Deng Zhilong also became more and more nervous, and he decided not to allow the British Navy to take a step forward, so that the overseas Chinese fleet opened fire quickly, and suppressed the enemy with the most powerful firepower, even if it could not stop the British fleet from breaking through the Shuilei area in the end, they would have to pay a huge price.

The British Navy was not to be outdone, and it took most of the day to finally break through the water radium area, seeing that victory was in sight, how could Klaus give up, and also ordered the British ships to fire back and continue to cover the radium platoon.

At first, the British fleet suffered a lot. Because the range of their main guns is much inferior to that of the Chinese fleet. However, as the two sides got closer and closer, the British guns gradually posed a threat to the Chinese fleet.

At dusk, a British cruiser was hit by a bullet and caught fire, and because the British cruiser had no ironclad protection, it was seriously injured and forced to withdraw from the battle sequence.

This is already the third British cruiser in charge of the radium platoon to be heavily damaged and withdrawn from the battle, and the British Navy can be said to have paid a great price for the radium.

But for Klaus, he thinks it's worth it, because he only needs to break through the radium zone and enter Manila Bay. Then the Chinese fleet of overseas Chinese can be completely annihilated.

Compared with the destruction of the entire Chinese Navy's overseas Chinese protection fleet, even if two ironclad ships (one sunk, the other stranded for repair) and three cruisers (one sunk, the other two are stranded for repair) have been lost, and then counting Marin's five battleships (two ironclads and three cruisers), this loss is already very large, if the Chinese overseas Chinese fleet is not destroyed, then this naval battle is equivalent to the complete loss of the British Asian fleet.

This was something that Klaus could not tolerate, and it was something that the British Empire could not tolerate. Therefore, Klaus must make a desperate bet, even if it costs a lot, to eliminate the Chinese fleet in Manila Bay.

Klaus had no choice.

"I'm about to break through the Radium Zone!"

"Victory will belong to the British Empire!"

Seeing that they were about to break through the water radium area, the officers and men of the ships of the British Asian Fleet suddenly became excited. They were gearing up, preparing to immediately accelerate towards the Chinese overseas Chinese fleet and tear the other party to pieces as soon as they broke through the Shuilei area.

However. Happiness and sorrow always happen at this time.

Just when the British naval officers and men felt that victory was in sight, the roaring sound of motors suddenly sounded behind the boulders of the headland near the main channel. Two speedboats rushed out immediately.

This is the Fish and Radium Boat Formation of the Chinese Navy's Overseas Chinese Escort Fleet, which belongs to the Qiangguo and Qiangyu under the jurisdiction of the Qizhou Ocean Fleet.

On the order of Lin Changlong, the second ship quietly hid behind a boulder on the seashore, covered the fish and radium boat with a huge camouflage net and tree branches, and evaded the reconnaissance of the British sailors, and then lurked and waited for the British warship to approach.

When the British ironclad ship Bold and the cruiser Gibraltar slowly drove past with a huge row of radium iron plates, the two Fish and Radium boats quickly pulled off their camouflage and rushed towards the two British ships respectively.

The British sailors on the Bold and Gibraltar were taken aback by the sudden turn of events, because the Chinese fleet continued to bombard, and the sound of the guns once drowned out the roar of the motors of the two Fish and Radium boats, and it was not until it was close to a distance of 1,500 meters that it was first spotted by the cruiser Gibraltar.

"Enemy ships spotted!

"On the starboard side!"

After receiving the report, the captain of the Gibraltar hurriedly came to the starboard side to check, and saw that it was two battleships the size of a sampan approaching rapidly, and he immediately laughed: "Don't panic, everyone! Such a small battleship, with only one small-caliber gun, cannot pose a threat to us at all! ”

After a pause, the captain continued, "These two little sampans seem to want to ram us, which is probably the stupidest thing to do this century. ”

Hearing the captain's ramblings, the adjutants on the side suddenly couldn't help it.

"Captain, please give the order to sink them!"

"Yes, although the enemy ship is small and the artillery does not pose a threat, if it is loaded with a large amount of scum, if it hits us, it must be taken seriously."

Only then did the captain wake up and immediately gave the order to open fire.

It's just that he has missed the best time to attack, he misjudged the situation, thinking that such a small battleship was full of scum to carry out a suicide attack, but he didn't expect that the oncoming Qiangguo Fish Ray boat, when approaching the Gibraltar cruiser at a distance of one thousand meters, suddenly launched two fish rays in a row.

This distance is the safe launch distance of the Fish Radium, the result obtained by the Chinese Navy after five years of continuous secret testing, if the distance is too far to ensure the effective attack hit rate of the Fish Radium, if it is too close, it is impossible to guarantee that the Fish Ray Boat will safely leave the shock wave range of the Fish Ray when the Fish Radium explodes.

The distance of 1,000 meters is the best launch distance of the Chinese YL39691-C-type fish radium made in this era.

Of course, the British army did not know about the new weapon so far, because the Chinese military kept it secret, and the British sailors only saw two long bubble lines approaching the Gibraltar at high speed.

Obviously, the two white lines on the sea that quickly approached the battleship were by no means good.

Out of panic about the unknown, the captain immediately ordered to abandon the attack on the Qiangguo Fish and Radium, and turned his guns to intercept the Fish Ray speeding on the sea.

It's a subconscious act, but it's not useful.

In a hurry. It was too late for the British sailors to turn the muzzle, and before the cannon could be fired, the two fish radiums were already in front of them.

Boom!!

Boom!!

With two loud bangs, the cruiser Gibraltar was hit by Rayum on the starboard side of the ship.

The YL39691-C Fish Radium, which has been upgraded to a caliber of 533 mm, is designed specifically for British ironclad ships. The Gibraltar cruiser did not have heavy armor protection, and its iron plate structure at the waterline was the weakest, and the structure was instantly blown through by two fish radiums.

A violent explosion occurred inside the cruise ship Gibraltar, affecting the ship's ammunition depot and causing the explosion.

In the next instant, the center of the entire battleship suddenly bulged. Then it burst, like a volcanic eruption, and the fire cloud rose hundreds of meters high, and the hull of more than 3,000 tons was cut in two in an instant, and sank into the sea at a speed that could be seen. The more than 700 British sailors on board did not even have time to escape, so they were sucked into the bottom of the sea and buried.

The instant explosion of the cruiser Gibraltar immediately stunned the friends of the entire British Asian fleet, especially the officers and men of the ironclad ship Daring, whose gunners were preparing to open fire to intercept the galloping Capture Fish and Radium boats. As a result, he was stunned by the great explosion of the Gibraltar and missed the best opportunity to sink the Captive.

"Fools! What are you doing in a daze? Hurry up and fire! ”

Captain Thomas of the Bold was so angry that he stomped his feet, he also saw the tragic death of the Gibraltar, but he also understood that the two things shot by the enemy ship in front of him were very dangerous.

Knock knock!

A salvo of three-stage small-caliber guns on the side of the ironclad USS Daring. But it was still half a beat slower and failed to stop the two fish radiums.

"Interception failed!"

"Turn! Turn! ”

Thomas shouted, and his men were quick to carry out the order this time, and quickly operated the steering gear to steer.

It's just that. The 10,000-ton ironclad ship is already very slow, less than 14 knots. Coupled with the fact that a huge iron plate was pushed in front of the bow ram angle, the result was as slow as a snail crawling.

"Oh no!"

Thomas watched the two rays of fish quickly approach the battleship, and he closed his eyes at the thought of what happened to the Gibraltar.

The explosion did not stop because Thomas was pitiful, the entire battleship was like an eight-magnitude earthquake in an instant, and everyone did not stand firmly, and they were instantly shaken to the ground, and their heads were broken and bleeding.

Thomas opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't shown up when he had expected the Gibraltar to be blown to pieces.

This is the biggest difference between an ironclad ship and an unprotected cruiser, an unprotected cruiser like the Gibraltar, hit two fish rays and will be blown into two instantly, but the bold is a 10,000-ton ironclad ship, although the waterline belt does not have a lightning protection longitudinal wall, but it also has 200 mm armor, but it was hit by a fish ray through two black holes more than one meter wide, and the explosion destroyed seven cabins and stopped, because the cabins are also very thick ironclad construction, so the impact resistance is very strong.

The two Fish and Radium boats fled immediately after the sneak attack, because of the small tonnage and shallow draft, they would not touch the water radium, so they returned to Manila Bay unharmed.

Seeing the two Fish Boats escape, Thomas stomped his feet in anger.

However, he didn't have time to pursue revenge, and he didn't know about the damage to the battleship.

"Damage Report!"

"The starboard side was badly damaged, seven compartments were destroyed, and the entire third floor was flooded beyond repair!"

"Sir, we're about to lose the Daring!"

After listening to the report, Thomas sat on the ground.

Nima, don't be so cruel!

Five years earlier, Thomas had led the Bold to the mouth of the Yangtze River in China to participate in a naval battle, which was sunk. Although the Daring was still a cruiser at the time, and now the Dardacity has been recommissioned and turned into an ironclad ship, it unfortunately sank, in the hands of the same man, Thomas.

Looking at Thomas's sad appearance of tears, the British officers and soldiers also shook their heads helplessly, they didn't want the battleship they served to sink like this, but they really couldn't save it.

It turned out that the hull of the ship was blown open by two huge holes, and the seawater poured in violently, and the speed of seawater pouring more than ten tons per second had already flooded the entire lower cabin. In these years, there is no underwater welding, and there is no way to plug the hole. The hull is designed to have no watertight compartment partial pressure, and if the water is uncontrollable, it will quickly penetrate into other cabins and upper decks.

Originally, it could have been docked and stranded, but it was a pity that the bow of the Bold was pushing a huge iron plate, and even the steering was slowly soaring, and the entire battleship had to sink in a few minutes without going to the shore.

Because this is an ironclad ship, it's not a wooden battleship, and it can be a little buoyant. For ironclad ships, once the sea water backs up, the speed of sinking is even faster.

In a daze, Thomas was carried away by the soldiers and fled the Bold on a small sampan.

On the ironclad ship of the Iron Duke in the rear, Klaus watched all this with an iron-clad face, and his eyes reflected the explosion of the cruiser Gibraltar and the ironclad ship Daring, which were burning fiercely.

"Damn it!"

"Who's going to tell me what's going on with this Nima!"

The officers around me, you look at me, I look at you, they are all shaking their heads, no one knows what the situation is.

"This should be the secret weapon of the Chinese again!"

Eventually, Brno, the captain of the Iron Duke, said a word.

"Secret weapon?" Klaus gritted his teeth and said, "Damn the secret weapon, why doesn't our intelligence have any hints?" ”

Brno continued: "Just like the second and third commercial wars, the Chinese always hid killer weapons until they went to war with us. For example, the Patriotic rifle and the Type 59 infantry cannon in the Second Commercial War caught us off guard. For example, the Gatling machine gun in the Third Commercial War made us die on the battlefield with hundreds of thousands of spirits. Now it is the same, the Chinese have invented a new secret weapon, only this time not in the army, but in the navy. ”

Klaus sighed, and had to admit that what Brno said made sense, but he was unwilling!

Seeing that they were about to successfully break through the Shuilei area, at this time they were suddenly attacked by the Chinese Navy's killer weapon, and the officers and men of the entire British Asian Fleet were frightened and stupid.

Faced with this situation, Klaus's heart is dripping blood!

Why is it so difficult for Nima to get revenge!

The more I thought about it, the more angry I became.

Poof!

A mouthful of old blood spurted out, and Clauston fainted to the ground.

The British fleet retreated slowly, Deng Zhilong breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't expect that the attack power of the fish and ray boats would be so strong, and he was directly frightened by the British fleet retreating.

Unaware that the British had retreated out of caution and caution about an unknown weapon, Deng Zhilong immediately seized the opportunity to re-dispatch the Shui Radium battalion and re-deploy the Radium on the main channel.

This time, in order to cause more trouble for the British fleet, the Water Radium Battalion arranged more Water Radium.

It's just that Deng Zhilong forgot a problem, he only thought about delaying time and waiting for reinforcements from the main fleet, but he forgot to arrange too much water radium, which in turn was also a situation of cocooning and self-restraint.

Once the British fleet blocked the exit of the channel, Deng Zhilong's fleet would not be able to get out. (To be continued.) )