At this time, on the bridge of the "Shengli", Vice Admiral Li Jingxi also noticed that the "Fusang" seemed to be immovable, seeing this scene, many Chinese [***] officers and American advisers all made a sound of surprise, and the rangefinder Captain Wei Tiancheng did not care about anything else, he reported the relevant data of the "Fusang" as quickly as possible and sent it to the main turret, and the "Fusang" ship was full of fire at this time, and it was particularly eye-catching on the sea.

The main guns of the "Victory" began to fire a salvo again, and one after another 406-mm shells whistled and flew towards the "Fuso", striking its hull, and one after another flames rose on the ship, and the violent explosion also blew up the last two turrets of the "Fuso", leaving only some secondary guns still firing intermittently.

"After the battleship was hit by a torpedo, it almost completely lost power, and stopped completely at 3:53, and the main guns of our ship hit very accurately, think about it, they were all sixteen-inch large-caliber shells!" Captain Scott later proudly recalled, "Almost six more shells hit it, and at four o'clock it exploded so loudly that the huge hull broke in two!" There were many people who witnessed the sight at the time, and some of the officers waved their fists with expressions of elation on their faces. But General Lee and I were both calm, and we were both a little surprised by the sight of a battleship that seemed to be much more vulnerable than we thought it was, because it had only been hit by one torpedo......"

The huge wreckage of the "Fuso" had been burning, and the destroyer "Shiranui" had drifted down to try to rescue the survivors, but the Chinese light cruisers and destroyers arrived at this time, and the "Haiyun" and "Haifeng" bombarded the "Shiranui" and hit it with five shells, and the "Shiranui" was finally sunk at 4:25. The battlecruiser "Victory" continued to shell the bow part of the "Fuso" for a while, and this fixed target, which was covered with skyrocketing fire, sank at 4:37 a.m., and the stern part in the distance lasted about an hour or so, and at 6:40 a.m. the next morning, after the day was released, the giant battleship named "The Land of the Exit" finally disappeared completely into the depths of the sea.

From the mine of the "Fuso" to the final sinking, no one knows what happened to the battleship during this period, because not a single person survived the ship, and even if someone swam to land, what awaits them is the steel knife hated by the Koreans. The specific number of people killed in the battle of the ship can no longer be counted, and later according to the survey, it should be between 1,300 and 1,500 people!

During the period when the "Fuso" was fatally attacked, the "Yamashiro" still used its main guns to return fire on the approaching Chinese fleet, but its result was only a few shells fired from the secondary guns that hit the destroyer "Jumen" of the 5th Destroyer Squadron of China, and this brave destroyer was too far ahead, and was mistaken for a destroyer by the lookout of its own light cruiser "Sea Breeze", and was immediately bombarded by a rain of shells, and was hit by 11 shots, and the ship immediately burst into flames and 14 people were killed. Twenty-nine people, including the captain, were wounded, and the mistaken strike made the USS Civil Rights aware of the danger and issued an identification signal and a call for the destroyer to withdraw. In order to give the destroyer fleet in front a chance to withdraw, at 4:29 a.m., after another salvo was fired, the main guns of the "Civil Rights" stopped firing.

Although the "Minquan" suspended the shelling, the Chinese light cruisers and destroyers, which had already been red-eyed, were not willing to withdraw from the battle at all, and continued to shoot torpedoes at the "Shancheng", which had been hit by heavy bullets. Soon, two torpedoes hit the target at 4:43:20, accompanied by two thunderclaps and flames rising into the sky, the "Yamashiro" began to burn violently, and after a while, the warship began to tilt.

Li Jingxi was very annoyed by the behavior of the "small ship torpedo party" of the Chinese Navy, and the "Giant Gate" was hit by mistake and made him feel even more humiliated, and he immediately ordered the light cruisers and destroyers to evacuate as the supreme commander, and at this time the Chinese light cruisers and destroyers had also shot out of torpedoes, and with mixed feelings they watched the burning but struggling to sink the "Shancheng" left the battlefield, but did not go far, They hoped to see their capital ship launch the battleship to the bottom of the sea, which had been a great force on the Chinese seas for many years.

After the light cruisers and destroyers withdrew, the "Victory" and "Minquan" began to concentrate their fire on the "Mountain City", and at this time, the "Mountain City" seemed to know that the end was approaching and began to fight the trapped beasts. Thanks to the frantic efforts of the sailors, the fire on the ship was extinguished, and the firing capability of the two main turrets was restored.

However, no matter how hard the officers and men tried, they could not save the fate of the destruction of this battleship.

Despite being attacked by two Chinese battle cruisers, the captain of the "Yamashiro", Koshiro Otani, in order to obtain the maximum results before the sinking of the "Yamashiro" and to avenge the death of the commander of the "Fuso", Vice Admiral Nagata, ordered to concentrate all firepower and attack only the "Victory".

In just a few minutes, at least 10 rounds of 356-mm shells hit the "Victory", making the "Victory" burst into flames from beginning to end, but to his own surprise, the main guns of the "Chinese battleship" seemed to be unaffected, still spewing out deadly tongues of fire! The anti-strike capability of the Chinese battlecruiser not only far exceeded his imagination, but also made the Chinese on the ship admire the skill of the native designer who designed the warship (Yang Shuoming, who was far away in Chengde at this time, should have sneezed more than once), and at the same time made the Americans on the ship feel the fine craftsmanship of their own shipyards.

Despite this, the dying backlash of the "Yamashiro" still caused a lot of damage to the "Victory", and the ship's surface was full of large and small pits and holes, and the crew was desperately repairing them. At this moment, another 356-millimeter shell from the "Yamashiro" hit the middle of the hull of the "Victory", and the violent explosion caused a huge tremor in the hull, and many of the crew members in the cabin were shaken to the ground, and some of them crashed into the bulkhead or the machine, causing their heads to bleed. It may have been the vibration that caused the power supply system to malfunction, and the result was a chain reaction that caused the entire ship to lose power at once. The radios, fire control system, turret maneuver system, bomb lifter, and communications all failed at once, and the guns were locked. "Victory" actually lost its combat effectiveness at this moment! Captain Scott summed it up after the war: "The greatest impact of this incident was a psychological blow, when the officers and men were quite shocked and frustrated, and the power outage made the crew feel as if they were blind." To make matters worse, our enemy still exists, the battleship we are facing is still refusing to sink, and the destroyers scattered around have not been cleared, and if he himself launches a torpedo attack on us at this time, the consequences are likely to be catastrophic. ”

At this time, on the bridge of the "Civil Rights", the acting captain, Admiral Fox, also noticed the anomaly of the "Victory". He had just heard that he had lost contact with the "Victory", and he realized that he had to do something, and that the giant ship he had at his disposal could decide the outcome of this naval battle. So he immediately ordered to "turn to the right" and speed up, and grabbed the "T" position at the stern of the "Yamashiro" at high speed, and at this time the sea was full of burning wreckage, and the "Minquan" reflected his own ship in the burning fire of the wreckage, so that the "Victory" and his own light ships would not be mistaken for enemy ships. This decisive order to change course during the Fokker period determined his ultimate fate.

The "Minquan," which had been almost unscathed throughout the naval battle, once again rained a deadly rain of bullets on the "Yamashiri," and the turrets of the "Yamashiro" were knocked off one by one, and they were burned from head to toe, and the violent explosion made the battleship, which had already been torpedoed, even more seriously injured, and soon the "Yamashiro" tilted.

A 406-mm shell fired by the "Minquan" directly hit the bridge of the "Yamashiro", and the shock wave swept across the bridge with shrapnel and flames, and the bridge was either dead or wounded, and soon the tilt of the "Yamashiro" reached 45 degrees, and Captain Koshiro Otani finally ordered to abandon the ship, but most of the sailors refused to obey the order and remained on the ship to continue fighting, but at this time the injuries of the giant ship were hopeless. About 10 minutes later, the power supply system of the "Victory" was restored, and it rejoined the battle, following the "Minquan", and the two ships formed a big "T" on the "Yamashiro", and her several salvos knocked out the last few guns of the "Yamashiro", and seeing that all the main guns of the "Yamashiro" had stopped firing, the "Minquan" and "Victory" stopped shelling for the sake of saving ammunition.

Without waiting for the flagship "Shengli" to give the signal to attack, the Chinese destroyer "Sky Wolf" could not wait to rush up, and at this time the "Shancheng" was already unable to move, and the officers and men on the ship watched the terrifying torpedo tracks on the sea one after another, and there was no way to think of it.

At 4:11, the hull of the battleship "Yamashiro" exploded continuously and violently, and finally turned into a pile of burning scrap steel with a loud bang.

Seeing that this "No. 2 Multi-Turret Temple", which had once been second only to the "Agincourt" that had been hung up in the Battle of Teland, was in ashes, Nakago Aramura, who had been transferred to a destroyer, could not help but shed tears on the bridge.

Since the completion of these two "Fuso" class battleships, which were once highly anticipated by the people of China and named after the country, it can be said that there have been many problems; as far as the "Fuso," which was hung up first, a huge battleship was actually robbed of its maneuverability and even its life by a mere torpedo, which shows how serious the hidden dangers existed in the image project of those years! The one-sided pursuit of attack power, unrealistically competing for the first place in the world, resulting in a weak defense, and finally obtained the worst ending!

However, in this battle, because of the bravery of the sailors, although the two battleships ended tragically, they were able to be buried under the last "T" battle column in history, but they could not but be said to be the most deserved. Just this alone, the names of "Fuso" and "Mountain City", which were unknown in the history of battleships, will become vigorous again, like a usually inconspicuous firework, only at the moment when it burns itself, it bursts out with its last brilliance.

At this time, the battle was not over, and another warship was also sinking, the light cruiser "Kumamoto" was hit by a torpedo, and sank after two large explosions, about 40 crew members were killed, and most of the remaining crew members were rescued by the destroyer "Nagamo", and the other 30 crew members, including the captain, boarded a small boat and sailed to the shore.

At this time, the Chinese Navy's destroyer "Seven Kills" was also nearing the end of its life, and the captain, Captain Zhang Xianliang, tried to sail the destroyer back, but the hull was so badly damaged that the crew even risked lighting the bow of the ship for repairs. Zhang Xianliang ordered all the crew to be evacuated from the bow part of the ship in order to reduce the burden on the bow keel. At this time, after receiving Zhang Xianliang's damage report, Colonel Deng Zhongwen, the commander of the destroyer squadron, ordered the "Broken Army" and the "Sky Wolf" to go to the rescue, and at the same time allowed Zhang Xianliang to make the decision to abandon the ship. After dawn, Zhang Xianliang tried to sail the destroyer back all morning, but by the afternoon, all efforts failed, and the "Sky Wolf" approached to pick up the crew of the "Seven Kills" and then opened fire on it, detonating the ammunition depot of the "Seven Kills", and the "Seven Kills" finally sank.

In the morning, a ray of golden sunlight illuminated the sea filled with gunsmoke, announcing the end of this naval battle. At this time, the exhausted Captain Scott was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief after twenty-four hours of continuous work, but since the battlecruiser "Victory" was still on alert, he could only remain on the bridge. At 6:30 a.m., the ship was put on alert, and Scott immediately staggered back to his seat to rest.

The sound of artillery on the sea had become unusually distant, and the crews of the Chinese Navy went to the deck and found shells everywhere. Captain Wei Tiancheng rubbed his eyes and felt extremely proud when he saw the national flag fluttering on the mainmast of the battleship bathed in the morning light.

For himself, their nightmare was still not over, and Lieutenant General Kimura ordered his transport ship to land on the beach. The officers of the Navy were ready to carry out the order, but the officers of the Army were vehemently opposed, believing that it would be very difficult for the troops to land now. Therefore, at 4:20 a.m., several surviving merchant ships and transport ships began to rush to the beach and run aground. At 4:30, Kimura's remaining destroyers began to retreat, most of which were still crowded with soldiers and crews that had been rescued earlier.

Not long after, the Chinese light cruisers appeared, and they bombarded the merchant ships that had grabbed the beach with impunity, and ten minutes later, several Chinese seaplanes also arrived, strafing the merchant ships and the unloaded boats. Several Chinese destroyers arrived at the scene and poured ammunition at the merchant ships at close range, and the shelling lasted about 30 minutes, and it was said that all the ships were on fire, most of the army soldiers who fell into the water drowned in the sea, and only a few managed to land and save their lives.

In this night battle, known as the "Battle of Busan", the Chinese Navy sank a total of 3 battleships, 8 cruisers, and 9 destroyers, and the Chinese Navy itself lost 1 cruiser, 7 destroyers, 5 torpedo boats, and 2 cruisers and 5 destroyers damaged. For the Chinese, their losses seemed insignificant and could easily be compensated, while for Yu himself, the destruction of two capital battleships and a large number of frigates was an irreparable loss.

The sinking of the two main battleships showed that the navy had no advantage over the Chinese navy (the people had always believed in the official propaganda), and the fiasco of the naval battle dealt a great blow to the militarist forces in the country, allowing the political axe to regain control of the war.

The outcome of this naval battle also led to the end of the future of Aramura Nakago and Kimura Tsuyoshi. They claimed to have sunk a Chinese battleship, but no one believed in this result. Looking at the lost ships and personnel, Setaro and his staff began to ask Emperor Taisho to retreat from the Korean Peninsula - something that was previously unimaginable. Subsequently, Sotaro Gardeni demoted Nakago Aramura and Tsuyoshi Kimura to other places.

Some experts believe that an important reason for the defeat of the naval battle was the hit rate of the torpedoes, and because of the narrow firing angle and the unstable ability of the torpedoes, all the torpedoes fired at the "Chinese battleships" were ineffective in this naval battle, so that they failed to hit the "Shengli" at a favorable time. Although the 356-mm guns of the battleship dealt a heavy blow to the enemy ships, their power obviously could not pose a fatal threat to the Chinese battleships with thick armor. After the end of this naval battle, the navy accelerated the development of new large-caliber naval guns and more advanced torpedoes.

The Chinese side also made a serious post-war review, and Li Jingxi believed that his plan and command was to have the entire task force act together, but he did not expect the battle to evolve into a nighttime melee. In this naval battle, the Chinese Navy also had many weaknesses: the destroyer detachment was poorly coordinated; Torpedo's surname can be equally unstable; And the "Victory", the latest American-made battle cruiser, almost led to a catastrophe after the failure of the power supply system at a critical moment in the battle. In his report to Yang Shuoming, Li Jingxi wrote: "We should recognize that these facts should not be forgotten, that all our advantages lie in speed, protection and firepower, and it is clear that there is still a certain gap between us and Yue himself in terms of experience, skills, training or performance of personnel." "There are some things that Li Jingxi did not mention in the report, and that is his own excellent performance in dealing with crises and using his own strengths, as well as the excellent crews of the two battlecruisers.

(To be continued)