Chapter 1115: Facing the Blow
The long-awaited opportunity of the Japanese Navy had arrived, and with blood-red battle flags fluttering on the masts of the six Japanese warships, Kozo Tsuboi and Karuichi Kawahara left the deck of the flybridge and entered the armor-protected conning tower under the flybridge. At 7:43 a.m. www.biquge.info the rangefinder on the "Yoshino" showed that the distance between the warships of the two countries was approaching 3,000 meters, and it had entered the effective range of the large-caliber rapid-fire guns specified by the Japanese Navy's tactical regulations. With a deafening loud bang, a cloud of white smoke rose from the muzzle of the 152-mm main gun in the bow of the "Yoshino".
The cannonballs whistled through the air and exploded on the sea surface far in front of the bow of the "Ningyuan" ship, although they did not cause an actual attack, but shattered Fang Boqian's illusionary dream; after the cannon sounded, the officers of Qianguo on the flying bridge immediately entered the armored command tower behind them, and watched nervously the development of the situation on the sea through the observation window like the gun hole of the pillbox. At 7:45 a.m., the guns of the "Yoshino" began again, and the shells once again fell in the sea near the bow of the "Ningyuan," stirring up a column of water that rushed to the sky, and then the large and small guns on the port side of the "Yoshino" also roared one after another.
The flagship of Japan's 1st Guerrilla Force, Yoshino, was a cutting-edge dome cruiser that had just been completed in 9093. Designed by the famous British ship designer Watts. In order to facilitate the transportation between the front and rear, the "Yoshino" has specially designed a flyover that spans the entire main deck to connect it. As a large warship, the displacement of the "Yoshino" ship is as high as 4,150 tons, the length of the ship is 109.73 meters, even more than the largest "Dingyuan" class ironclad ship in China at that time, the deck width of the warship is 14.17 meters, the draft is 5.18 meters, the dome deck is laid throughout the ship near the waterline, the central bulge of the dome armor is 44.5 mm thick, and the thickness of the part of the slope on both sides inclined to the waterline is 114.3 mm. The power system of the "Yoshino" ship is very proud, using two reciprocating steam engines, with 12 high-rise coal-fired boilers, can obtain 15,000 horsepower surging power (when the test was completed using strong pressure ventilation technology, it reached 23,031 horsepower, at this time the speed should be far more than 23 knots), driving 2 propellers, the speed is as high as an astonishing 23 knots, is the fastest surface warship in the world at that time.
As impressive as her record-breaking speed, the Yoshino was equipped with a large number of large-caliber rapid-fire guns. The main gun is 4 152 mm 40 times caliber rapid-fire guns produced by the British Armstrong Company, with a gun chamber length of 6096 mm, a warhead weighing 45.4 kg, a muzzle velocity of 671 m/s, an effective firing range of 8600 meters, and a rate of fire of 7 rounds per minute. Two of them were installed on the decks of the bow and aft buildings of the warship, and the bow door was the first to start the Battle of Toshima. The other two doors are installed in a special position, arranged in the earrings on both sides of the main deck at the end of the first floor, apparently out of the traditional design idea of obtaining the maximum firepower when fighting the enemy at the bow of the ship, because in this way the "Yoshino" ship can get the firepower of three 152 mm main guns in the bow direction, in order to make the forward firing range of the two 152 mm guns installed in the ear platform more open, the tail of the first floor has been cut inward, this unique design is also an important appearance feature to identify the "Yoshino". From the ear mount where the 152 mm main gun is installed, there are as many as 8 ear mounts between the two sides of the warship and the stern, each equipped with a 120 mm 40 times caliber rapid-fire gun, forming a dense broadside fire, these rapid-fire guns are also made by the British Armstrong company, with a chamber length of 4801 mm, a bullet weight of 18.1 kg, a muzzle velocity of 467 m/s, and an effective firing range of 7000 meters. These terrifying, large-caliber rapid-fire guns were protected by 4.5-inch thick open rear gun covers, and the Yoshino was armed with 22 47 mm Habekis single-barrel rapid-fire guns scattered throughout the ship, as well as up to five 14-inch torpedo tubes, and sharp underwater ramming angles in the bow. It seems that the power of these weapons is still insufficient, and he wants to add a footnote to them, and Watts has also equipped the "Yoshino" with a special artillery rangefinder that has just come out, which means that the aiming and ranging of the "Yoshino" gun's guns will be more accurate and convenient, and the combat power can be doubled.
At the same time, it had fast speed and powerful weapons, making the power of the "Yoshino" unparalleled, and it was praised as the best cruiser in the world at that time.
Immediately after "Yoshino" was the "Takachiho" ship captained by the grumpy Nomura Sada. This warship happened to be the first Dome cruiser owned by the Japanese Navy. Together with its sister ship "Naniwa", it was commissioned in 9085 by the British company Armstrong, and the designer was the famous William Brown. White. The ship "Takachiho" has a displacement of 3,650 tons, a length of 91.4 meters, a width of 14 meters, and a deep draft of 6.1 meters. The power system uses 2 horizontal reciprocating steam engines and 6 coal-fired boilers with a power of 7,604 hp and a speed of 18 knots. The main guns of the "Takachiho" ship were selected 2 260-mm 35-caliber cannons produced by the Krupp company, with a warhead weighing 275 kg and an effective firing range of 12,200 meters. The guns were installed in two open batteries at the bow and stern of the warship, with a firing range of 240 degrees, and each gun had 100 rounds of ammunition. What is very special is that the main gun emplacement of the "Takachiho" ship was protected by a French-style open front gun cover, with a thickness of 1.5 inches. Contrary to the British open rear gun cover, the rear of the gun cover is completely closed, and the front part is left open in large areas, so as to facilitate observation and aiming. In addition to the main guns at the bow and tail, as a symbol of the revival of broadside tactics, the "Takachiho" has a total of 6 earrings designed on both sides, each equipped with a 150 mm 35 caliber Krupp gun, each of which has 75 rounds of ammunition, and is protected by a 1.5-inch thick rear open gun cover, with a firing range of 130 degrees. In addition to the large-caliber guns, the "Takachiho" ship was also equipped with two 57-mm Nodianfei single-barreled machine guns, 10 Nordian four-barreled machine guns, four 10-barreled Grimm guns, and four 14-inch torpedo tubes.
The shape of the ship "Takachiho" belongs to the flat-deck type, the appearance is tall, and the main feature of the exterior is a two-masted single chimney. Because the main deck between the two main batteries is the main activity space, and the two sides are densely covered with ear platforms and guns, so the two sides are designed with tall bulwarks for protection. The armored conning tower of the ship "Takachiho" is located behind the foremast and on an installation platform across the sides, and the armor of the conning tower is 38 mm thick. Due to the special dome armor protection design, the dense broadside firepower, and the rare high speed of 18 knots at the time, the "Takachiho" was also praised as the best cruiser in the world at the time of completion.
Behind the "Takachiho", the ship "Akitsuzu" was the first Japanese dominary cruiser of its own construction. The selection refers to the "Baltimore" dome cruiser built by the British Armstrong company for the US Navy, and the designer of the "Baltimore" ship, the British teacher William of the "Baltimore". With the help of Sir White, a complete design was carried out, which was finally built by the Yokosuka Naval Shipyard in Japan in 9090 and completed in 9094. The ship has a displacement of 3,100 tons, a length of 91.7 meters, a width of 13.14 meters, a draft of 5.32 meters, and a power system of 2 horizontal three-expansion reciprocating steam engines, and 4 coal-fired boilers, with twin-shaft propulsion, a power of 8,400 horsepower, and a speed of 19 knots.
The armament of the "Akitsuzu" opened a new era for the Japanese Navy, which completely abandoned the idea of large-caliber artillery and began to use all rapid-fire guns, which had a positive impact on the Japanese Navy's subsequent purchase of the "Yoshino" ship. Originally, the "Akitsuzu" ship was planned to be equipped with 10 Armstrong 120-mm 40-caliber rapid-fire guns, but it was worried that the firepower was too thin, so four of them were replaced with Armstrong 152-mm 40-caliber rapid-fire guns, which were installed in the ear stands at the end of the first and last buildings, which was slightly similar to the main gun arrangement of the "Yoshino". One 120 mm rapid-fire gun was installed on the deck of the first and last floors, and the remaining four 120 mm rapid-fire guns were arranged in the ear stands on the middle side of the warship. In addition, it was armed with eight 47 mm Haqikis single-barrel rapid-fire guns and four 356 mm torpedo tubes. Judging from the service situation since its inception, although the "Akitsuzuzu" has the shortcomings of poor seaworthiness, as a warship built in Japan itself, it can reach such a standard, which is enough to shock the Qianguo on the other side of the sea. The Japanese government's strong support for its own industry culminated in the astonishing achievements of modern times.
The shape of the "Akitsuzu" has many similarities with the "Yoshino", and the ship type is also of the head and tail building type, which is tall and beautiful, and the important characteristics of the warship are the twin masts and double chimneys. However, the command tower and flybridge structure of the "Yoshino" ship were arranged on the deck of the first floor, while the "Akitsusu" ship was short in length, so the command tower flybridge was relocated behind the foremast, and it was worried that the height of the direct installation on the main deck was not enough, so a platform was erected horizontally on the two sides of the main deck, and then a command tower and flybridge were set up on top of it. The protection of the Akitsuzu was also very close to that of the Yoshino, with all 10 large-caliber rapid-fire guns protected by 114.3 mm thick rear open gun covers, and the dome deck near the waterline was 76 mm thick.
After the four most cutting-edge ships "Yoshino", "Takachiho", "Akitsuzuzu", and "Naniwa", "Tsukushi" and "Takao" are older ships, with small tonnage and weak combat power, and they are purely soy sauce roles.
After the "Yoshino" opened fire, the "Takachiho" ship, which had been eager to try, also began to fire at the Qianguo warship, and one minute later, the "Akitsuzu" and "Naniwa" ships also entered a favorable attack position and joined the battle. The Battle of Toshima broke out.
Only three minutes after the Japanese ship opened fire, Ke Jianzhang, the second officer of the guns and guns who was supervising the battle in front of the main gun position of the "Ningyuan," gave the order to open fire in accordance with the special military language of the Qianguo Navy, and the 240-mm Ghanaian guns roared into the sky, and the Qianguo Navy began to fire back.
The main gun fire is the battle signal, in the command tower, Shen Shouchang suddenly pressed the button, and the five 140 mm secondary guns and four 75 mm auxiliary guns on the port side that had been loaded opened fire almost simultaneously, and for a time it was like lightning and thunder.
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