At this time, due to the relationship between dark clouds and dense fog, the visibility around was extremely low, and the armored cruiser "Chunyue" rushed into the battlefield like a tiger entering a pack of wolves.

In the face of the light cruisers and destroyers of the Chinese Navy, the "Chun Yue" can be regarded as a behemoth, and its powerful firepower of 254 mm guns and 203 mm main guns has an incomparable advantage; under the rapid and fierce salvo attack of the "Chun Yue", the Chinese destroyer "Hunter 19" and the torpedo boat "Jiao 12" were caught off guard, were hit by a bullet and caught fire, and soon sank in the explosion.

Seeing the threat posed by the powerful firepower of the "enemy ships," the cruiser "Haizhou" of the Chinese Navy, whose main guns were completely destroyed, quickly approached the side of the "Chun Yue" in the face of a rain of bullets, and fired an unprecedented torpedo salvo at the "Chun Yue" from a distance of 500 yards.

Unlike the light cruisers of the navies of other countries, the other main offensive weapon of the "Hainan" class light cruiser to which the "Haizhou" belongs is the eleven torpedo tubes that can fire lethal torpedo salvos at larger enemy ships.

Dozens of frightening torpedo tracks appeared on the surface of the sea, but perhaps because the visibility was too low, or perhaps because of carelessness, the sailors in charge of observation did not realize the danger that was close at hand, and as a result, the "Chunyue" was hit by three torpedoes one after another, and exploded into a pile of burning wreckage in a series of loud noises, and soon sank.

After the "Haizhou" completed a torpedo salvo, the cruiser "Haiyue" noticed that behind the destroyed "enemy ships," several warships were spewing artillery fire at the Zhong[***] ship. The "Hai Yue" immediately turned, gave way to the side side, and fired another round of torpedo salvos at the advancing enemy ships.

The explosion of the "Chun Yue" caused a great shock to the advancing shipwhat, and almost all the ships began to shoot, and the flash of the muzzle flame reflected the sky in red, and at this time, some of the warship sailors on the lookout post suddenly discovered the terrible torpedo track on the sea, and loudly sounded the alarm, and the warships whistled for a long time, and one after another began to turn to evade, and some of the warships desperately turned their bodies to avoid the torpedoes that were flying on the sea, and the fleet was in a mess for a while.

Although the warship evaded it at the first time, some warships still followed in the footsteps of the "Chunyue." The protective cruiser "Akashi" became the second unlucky one to be hit by a torpedo.

The "Akashi" was a protective cruiser that was built at the Yokosuka Naval Works on August 6, 1894, and was named "Akashi" on May 27, 1895. It was launched on December 18, 1897 and completed on March 30, 1899. On June 18, 1900, it was incorporated into the standing fleet. On August 6, he was sent to Dagu, China, to suppress the Boxer Rebellion. During the Russo-Russian War, he was assigned to the 2nd Fleet and the 4th Sentai to participate in the war. And was incorporated into the 1st Sentai of the 4th Fleet and participated in the Battle of Tsushima. In World War I, he was incorporated into the 2nd Fleet in 1914 and participated in the attack on Qingdao, China. Later, he participated in the battle of the invasion of Tianjin. On March 6, 1917, it was incorporated into the 2nd Special Fleet of the European Dispatch Fleet and went to fight in European waters.

The displacement of the "Akashi" was much smaller than that of the "Chunyu", only 2756 tons, and the main armament was 2 152-mm guns and 6 120-mm guns, with a speed of 20 knots. After seeing the explosion of the "Chunyue", the "Akashi" rushed to the direction of the "Chunyue" fire while firing its cannons, trying to rescue the "Chunyue", but was unexpectedly hit by a torpedo. The hull of the "Akashi" was much thinner than that of the "Harutsu", and it was blown into two with a loud bang and soon disappeared into the sea.

In addition to the "Akashi", the cruiser "Kasaki", which was behind the array and did not know what had happened, was also hit by a torpedo and was disemboweled, and 405 Sailors were killed in the belly of the Akamoto along with their captains, and the sinking of the "Kasaki" gave a great shock to the surrounding warships, and many Saimoto sailors witnessed the tragic situation of the sinking of the "Kasaki", causing many of them, who had been in a state of tension for many years, to suffer from neurasthenia, and some of them even suffered from hysterical nervous breakdowns later. had to be sent back home.

At this time, the Chinese fleet did not realize that they were actually fighting "its own people," and many Chinese naval officers and men cheered excitedly when they looked at the burning wreckage of the ships on the sea. And in order to help the "Haizhou", which had lost all its main guns, the "Haiyue" turned back to the east. This decision required considerable risk, not to mention the fact that the "Hai Yue" itself was already wounded, and the destroyer fleet was scattered all over the place due to high-speed maneuvering. By this time, the plan for attacking the German battleships had changed too much, and the commander of the Chinese Direct Guard Fleet judged that "German reinforcements" were rapidly coming. After another short burst of firing, eight destroyers of the Chinese destroyer detachment, which had been chased and dispersed by the sudden appearance of the Japanese fleet, appeared and returned to the group. Soon after, a telegram came from the battleship "Republic", the general flagship of the fleet, in which Betty asked about the location of each ship and the distribution of enemy ships, and informed the news of the arrival of the fleet. The cruiser "Haiyue," which had "made a big disaster," made another 180-degree turn and called on the other ships to evacuate at high speed. Since the boiler water pipe of the "Haiyue" had been cut by a shell fired by the "Haiyue" during the fierce battle just now, and after leaving the battlefield, the speed of the "Haiyue" was already less than 10 knots, the commander decided to take advantage of the gap between battles to carry out emergency repairs. Soon, the "Haiji" and "Haixi" were ordered to come upboard, the four ships were moored side by side, the sound of the engine fell silent, and the repair team was busy up and down like worker ants. At this time, the Japanese fleet sent destroyers to reconnoiter the enemy's situation and try to pursue them, but they were still lingering not far from the Chinese fleet, and the Chinese destroyers, who were on guard on the perimeter, saw the Japanese warships penetrating in and out of the fog from time to time, and seemed to be keeping contact.

After the frantic efforts of the sailors, the speed of the "Haiyue" was soon restored to 20 knots, and all but two machine guns were restored to service. The "Haizhou", which was far more injured than the "Haiyue", also repaired two 150-mm main guns, and when the damaged ships of the [***] ship roared again, another battle was about to begin.

After receiving the distress signal from the German battleships, the German light cruisers began to disperse, and in order to hurry, the Germans did not deliberately gather forces on the way, so the German light cruisers all arrived separately and entered the battle, lacking contact and cooperation with each other.

The first to appear was the light cruiser "Augsburg", and a Chinese naval officer wrote in the report: "We were subjected to an extremely heavy and precise artillery fire. Volleys landed twenty or thirty yards away, but none of them hit. Two torpedoes were fired at us, aiming well but not at sufficient range. "The 12 destroyers of the Chinese fleet immediately launched a counterattack, one torpedo grazed the bow of the German ship, the other slipped under the stern but did not explode, and the startled "Augsburg" turned its head and hid in the fog. The Chinese direct guard fleet, which had been fighting fiercely for a long time, was in a hurry to get out of this land of right and wrong, but before the Chinese fleet could leave, the light cruiser "Fuerte" appeared on the stage again. The nearest "Haiji" was forced to turn around and turn back to engage in battle, but the officers and men of the "Haiji", who had little combat experience, mistook the "Fuerte" for a German armored cruiser with strong firepower this time, and kept asking Betty for help while firing. Betty's first reaction was to ask Yue himself to send two cruisers to support, but he resolutely refused to divide his troops, but wanted to concentrate the fleet firmly in his hands, and he quickly sailed with all the warships. At this time, under the frenzied torpedo fire of the "Haiji," the "Fuerte" also had to retreat, and the Chinese fleet turned to withdraw again, and the fierce battle of more than two hours had already caused each of the Chinese [***] ships to be wounded, and the consumption of ammunition was also extremely great; many Chinese sailors who had gone to the battlefield for the first time in the sea battle were physically and mentally exhausted, and their combat effectiveness had seriously declined; out of disgust with their cooperation, the cruiser "Haiyue" withdrew from the battlefield after sending a warning signal to the "enemy ships are rapidly assembling" to the Japanese fleet.

The withdrawal of the Chinese direct guard fleet and the battle report sent by the fleet (he did not realize that it was the Chinese who beat them) made Betty realize that although the German battlefleet had suffered heavy losses, light ships were still a great threat, and at this time Betty was leading the "Republic" at full speed to the battlefield where the "Constitution" and "Free Spirit" were fighting fiercely with four German "Byrne"-class battleships, and in order to support the troubled Chinese fleet, he took the "Hainan" belonging to the "Mingzhuo" direct frigate The light cruiser and four destroyers were sent to the battlefield where the melee had just taken place to support the Chinese fleet there. But what Betty didn't expect was that his order would exacerbate the chaos on the battlefield.

Because at this time, the capital ship of this fleet quietly appeared.

While the cruiser fleet was exhausted by the terrible torpedo attacks of the "German Light Cruisers", Kanji Kato and his two battle cruisers and four destroyers were hovering 30 miles to the northwest. He had been listening to telecommunications in the bay all morning and now, and from the information displayed by the telecommunications, the chief of staff of the "genius" Tetsutaro Sato had judged that there had been a "misunderstanding" between the cruiser fleet and the Chinese lightning strike fleet, and that the Chinese fleet was "in trouble." The Chinese had only intermittently moved 17 nautical miles west in four hours, and were now being dragged by the Germans in the enemy's hinterland, only 19 nautical miles from Helgoland. German reinforcements were apparently "arriving", and four German cruisers had already appeared, one of which could be a large armored cruiser or a battle cruiser, that is, even if Kurama and Ibuki were present, it would not be enough to ensure the upper hand (Hipper, the commander of the German battle cruiser and the top defender of the Helgoland Bay). Unfortunately, according to the tide timetable at hand by Kanji Kato, he clearly knew that the Germans would be able to dispatch their battle cruisers soon in the afternoon, and that if they faced the lineup of the remaining battle cruisers of the German High Seas Fleet after the Battle of Deland, his two "quasi-battle cruisers" would be nothing more than a mantis arm, and self-preservation was still in doubt, let alone support.

Kanji Kato paced back and forth on the bridge of the Kurama, and as the highest-ranking officer of the fleet, victory or defeat depended on one of his decisions. And it is not easy to make this decision at the moment, he can not sit idly by and watch his avant-garde cruiser fleet under siege by the enemy and remain indifferent, but if he advances, he will expose himself to the threat of German battlecruisers and mines and German submarines, and at this time, he is no longer thinking about how to take advantage of the Chinese, but how to make his fleet retreat in this melee.

"I don't think the threat of German submarines is great, because now the sea is very calm, the fog has cleared a lot, and the periscopes of German submarines sticking out of the water are easy to spot, so submarines are not too afraid to get too close to our ship to avoid collision, and besides, the underwater speed of submarines is not enough to track cruisers moving at high speed."

Tetsutaro Sato knew what Kanji Kato was worried about, and said to him in a earnest tone.

Kanji Kato frowned and looked at the watch on his wrist.

Since the departure time of the German heavy ships was approaching, there was not much time left for him to think about it.

"What do you think we should do? I should go to the aid and seek out the enemy, but if I lose a valuable cruiser, the whole people will not forgive me. Kanji Kato sighed, as if regretting his original idea of wanting to pick up the bargain.

"We must go." Tetsutaro Sato replied in a firm tone, "Just now the Chinese also said in the telegram that they had encountered German battleships, and now there is no high tide, and the German heavy ships cannot be dispatched, I think they encountered German battleships that have been injured and want to escape back to Heregoran Bay." If we rush over now, we will have time to send them to the bottom of the sea. ”

Listening to Sato Tetsutaro's words, Kanji Kato finally made up his mind, and he led the main force of the Samoto fleet to gallop away in the southeast direction.

And at this moment, the cruiser finally exchanged hands with the German light cruisers.

After the withdrawal of the Chinese fleet, the cruiser Zomoto, who had scolded the "greedy pig for life and afraid of death", continued to search and advance, and at this time the sea fog dissipated a lot under the blowing of the sea breeze, and the visibility increased sharply, and the avant-garde destroyer "Kigami" 6 miles ahead of the armored cruiser "Azuma" spotted a German light cruiser.

After receiving orders to support and receive the wounded battleships into port, the German light cruiser "Perseus" set sail from the mouth of the Ames River and intercepted the front of the cruiser in only an hour and a half. The "Perseus" crossed the bow of the Japanese ship from south to north and launched a broadside salvo, forcing some of the ships to switch to the same direction of engagement, so as to slow down the advance of the Japanese fleet. The gunner of "Perseus" had good skills, frequently forming straddle shots, but none of them hit. The six destroyers immediately launched lightning strikes, and the torpedoes fired also missed. After nearly 20 minutes of exchange of fire between the two sides, the "Perseus" suddenly noticed a thick black smoke in front of the port side, which was the light cruiser "Hainan" and two other sister ships of the same class, "Haiji" and "Haixi", as well as four destroyers.

The "Perseus" immediately turned to the right and broke away, just dodging the first salvo of the opponent, to which a German [***] officer exclaimed: "Although the enemy ships were turning, their first salvo was also very close, and it was not long before our ships were shot several times." The Chinese naval officers and sailors aboard the "Hainan" watched their opponents "very wisely flee like a stag." However, the "Perseus", which fled south, ran headlong into the main force of the Samoto fleet, and with the order of Kanji Kato, the six Samoto destroyers launched an attack formation and rushed towards the German ships at full speed, and in order to improve the hit rate, many destroyers rushed to within 1,000 yards. The "Perseus", which was hit by the enemy in the belly, was constantly hit by shells at this time, and she desperately concentrated her fire on the incoming destroyer, which was of course to counter the lightning strike, but it was more like the consciousness of pulling people's backs before dying. Her shooting was surprisingly accurate, the destroyer "Kigami", which rushed to the forefront, had just fired two torpedoes, and was hit by three 105-mm shells in succession, the chimney was knocked off, and the ammunition began to detonate, and the captain Uehara Taiichi Nakasa was wounded in both legs, but he still insisted on staying on the bridge to command, but the ship was soon hit on the bridge again, and Uehara Taiichi and four officers were killed on the spot, and the "Kigami" was immediately hit by another shot, was hit by the vital point, exploded in two parts with a loud bang, and disappeared into the sea. The destroyer "Mistletoe", which followed closely, had good luck and did not get shot; But the third ship, "Akatsuki", was hit by four 105-mm shells with a salvo and immediately lost power. At this time, a German torpedo boat that rushed to the battlefield fired a torpedo at the "Akatsuki", plowing a white bubble trail in the dark gray water, and the "Akatsuki" was on fire at this time, the left engine was finished, the rudder was stuck, and there was no way to dodge the torpedo. The torpedo hit the hull, and the hull of the "Akatsuki" was thrown out of the water by a violent explosion, and after falling back into the water, it shook violently again, and then disintegrated into parts in an instant.

(To be continued)