Admiral Shinkichi Mukaiyama stood on the bridge and stared incredulously at the rear of the armored cruiser "Asama". www.biquge.info A minute ago, the "Tokiwa" was still there, exchanging artillery fire with a formidable adversary, and now, there was nothing left, only the empty sea, and the wreckage of struggling sailors and warships. Mukaiyama Shinji watched quietly.

There was chaos all around him. The panicked sailors slowed down and even stopped, noisily trying to figure out the cause of the violent explosion of the "Tokiwa", while the officers ran from post to post, shouting, directing, misleading.

In the midst of this chaos, a sailor squeezed to Mukaiyama Shinkichi and reported to him: "Osa, the battleship Lucia is concentrating all its fire on our ship. ”

"I see it." Shinyoshi Muyama replied. "All personnel, take cover."

"We should break out of formation, Dazuo." His first mate shouted from the side. The officer's voice trembled, showing his panic unreservedly.

"Do you want to be a deserter?" Xiang Shan Shinji scolded.

"We have no other choice. Excellency. Our cruisers could not withstand the fire of the battleship Lucia. ”

The gunnery chief of the "Asama" also leaned over and shouted approvingly: "Moreover, breaking away from the formation will allow our ship to take advantage of its speed and seize a more favorable firing position than it already has." ”

Mukaiyama Shinji looked around. A burst of heavy artillery fire shook the armored cruiser violently, sending shards of steel and wood flying everywhere. The first mate and the gunnery chief were right, the "Asama" should not have remained in the formation. Not being able to take advantage of the speed advantage and not being able to withstand the artillery fire of the Lucia is simply asking for your own death.

He gave that order. "Turn right, break away from the formation, move at full speed, and inform the fleet of the tactical intentions of our ship."

"Yes, Dazuo." The first mate paused again. "Osa, should our ship first turn back to the location where the 'Joban' sank to rescue the surviving crew?"

"Wait until the battle is over." Muyama Shinkichi replied softly.

The battleship was shaken by another explosion - a shell hit the emplacement of a six-inch gun, and the propellant packs piled up there were immediately detonated, killing every sailor in the vicinity and causing a fire.

"Hurry up and put out the fire!" Someone called.

The intensity of the fighting has risen by another level.

Mukaiyama Shinyoshi's face tensed. The sudden destruction of the "Tokiwa" left a shadow on his mind: the tragic fate of the battleship could also be repeated on the "Asama", but until now, no one knows what caused the earth-shattering explosion, and no measures can be taken to eliminate the hidden danger. Danger would surround his battleship until it left the firing range of Lucia's battleship......

In his sight, the hindmath of the armored cruiser suddenly fell.

"The Lucians are firing faster, and their aim is improving." The first mate walked back, frowning. "It's weird, it's not like a Lucia should be."

"They clearly don't intend to let us go." Mukaiyama Shinyoshi said.

"However, the Lucia battleship has no intention of breaking away from the formation."

"It can't catch up with us. If I were the captain of that Lucia battleship, I wouldn't have ordered the pursuit......"

The shock came again - another six-inch gun was shot in the emplacement, and the same result.

Shinyoshi Muyama had some bad premonitions, and they made him think of one of the possibilities that would lead to the sudden destruction of the "Tokiwa". "Convey my order to the whole ship, immediately return the excess ammunition from the gun emplacements to the ammunition depot and, if it is too late, throw them away." He shouted, "Move fast!" ”

"Dazuo, this will reduce the rate of fire of the artillery." The gunnery chief protested.

"But it is also possible to stop the Lucian shells from continuing to detonate our ammunition. If my guess is correct, it is the reason for the sinking of the Joban. ”

"If that's the case...... "The cannonballs and cartridges that were placed outside the ammunition depot ......"

Not just Muyama Shinkichi, but everyone on the bridge who heard this turned pale. An officer quickly threw himself into the microphone and shouted hysterically: "Immediately send the shells and projectile kits to the ammunition depot." Repeat, immediately send the shells and projectile kits to the ammunition depot-"

Too late.

Like its sister ship, the destruction of the Asama was both sudden and violent.

The explosion once again alarmed the two fleets, which were engaged in a fierce exchange of fire. For a moment, the white-hot battle was interrupted, the Japanese sailors and their enemies stopped moving, and most of the officers were also at a loss, and then a Japanese battleship changed its course and headed for the edge of the battlefield.

It retreated, but the remaining three Japanese battleships performed the exact opposite: they began to approach the "Letvizan". Their actions were like a basin of cold water on the head of Vizofort, who was celebrating his victory, and he shivered.

He turned to his chief of staff. "What do the Japanese want to do?"

As soon as the rear admiral finished speaking, the shells rained down like hailstones. The battleship was full of fire, there were explosions everywhere, and it began to crumble, disintegrate, and then dissipate in new explosions, making it feel like the end of the world. Vizofort had to crouch down in deignence, holding his head behind the bulwark, while screaming at the people around him.

"Let the 'Borodino' lead the fleet to intercept the Japanese! Tell Admiral Andreyev to move fast, this damned warship is going to sink! ”

"That's useless!" His chief of staff shouted.

The Japanese, apparently enraged, made up their minds to send the "Letvizan" to the bottom of the sea to be the companion of their two armored cruisers, and their attitude was so resolute that the artillery fire of the "Borodino" and "Duke Suvorov" did not work at all.

They would rather eat a dozen large-caliber shells than give up their determination to retaliate.

"Crazy! These yellow monkeys are crazy! Vizofort continued to scream. It was the only thing he could do.

The hull of the "Letvizan" disintegrated at a slow but determined pace. No one reported the damage, and for the people on the warship, its destruction was already doomed, and they could only choose between playing with it and abandoning it - if they were not torn to shreds by Japanese shells.

Some quickly made the choice to jump into the sea before the explosion spread to their positions, but many more were still waiting for instructions.

"General, your orders?" The chief of staff asked.

"Uh......" Vicefort was about to think about it—he had to consider St. Petersburg's various views on how he had abandoned a battleship—but the hull that began to tilt to the right gave him a quick answer. Abandon the ship! He shouted, "Abandon the ship!" ”

The officers and sailors on the warship delivered and carried out this order with astonishing efficiency. Soon, the sea was filled with Russian servicemen who were waving their arms and swimming in the direction of their battleship. Behind them, the "Letvizan" fell to the right little by little, and then it increased in speed, and finally fell, flipping again, exposing the red bottom of the ship without reservation.

The Japanese battleships began to retreat.

The Russian fleet did not pursue. Salvaging the survivors who had fallen overboard was the first thing it had to do - of course, the first to be fished out were of course the Rear Admiral and his chief of staff. A lifeboat sent them to the Borodino.

The battleship is now a veritable flagship.

Looking at the re-raised flag of the rear admiral, Vizofort issued the first order with a tone of rejoicing for the rest of his life: "Recall our cruiser, turn around, and return to Guam." ”

"Guam?" His chief of staff objected, "Since the Japanese are intercepting us here, it is clear that they have declared war on Russia." The Americans will definitely declare neutrality, prohibiting us from docking in Guam. Moreover, there is no dock in that place where we can repair warships. ”

"But we can't go straight to Arthur or Vladivostok, can we? The Japanese won't just let us go. ”

"So we can only go to one place, Cam Ranh Bay. After all, the French are our allies. ”

"Then go to Cam Ranh Bay." Wizofort said, then lifted his chin. "Remember, as soon as we reach Cam Ranh Bay, send a telegram to St. Petersburg informing us of our victory."

After a pause, he added: "Brilliant victory. ”

……

"So," Qin Lang sat down in his place and looked at his friends, "after using the sneak attack to severely damage three Russian battleships, the Japanese sank one more battleship in a naval battle at the cost of two armored cruisers. I must say that it was a perfect start. ”

In fact, it was not perfect: the battleship formations of the two fleets presented the spectators with a wonderful feast of killing, but their cruiser formations behaved like sleepwalking, firing thousands of shells and sixteen torpedoes at each other, but the total losses were only nineteen killed and one hundred and four wounded.

Oh, my God. Qin Lang said to himself. It's almost like a battle between Africans.

Fortunately, the performance of the battleship formation was still worth the ticket price.

He tapped on the table. "What do you think?"

"I'm just curious, how did the Russians do it." O'Connor shook his head and said, "Based on the information we have, it's not like what they can achieve. ”

"Luck."

"Just luck?"

"It was mainly luck, and then the mistakes of the Japanese." Qin Lang squeezed out a smile that seemed to be a sneer, and then habitually crossed his fingers and rubbed them, "The Japanese made their first mistake by putting armored cruisers into battleship formations. ”

"Because such warships are designed to deal with cruisers, not battleships?" Yi Shui asked.

"Yes."

"So what's the second mistake?"

Qin Lang said "the first", so there must be a second mistake, maybe a third and a fourth, or even more - but anyway, Rachel thought, the first is followed by the second.

"I think it's their operation and management that has problems, and in order to get the most out of their firepower, they ignore the safety of the battleship." Qin Lang shrugged, "The Japanese are investigating the cause of the loss of two armored cruisers. Of course, if my guess is correct, they will cover up this fact with other reasons. ”

Just like the British did after the Battle of Jutland. Frederick, who was responsible for investigating the causes of the losses of three battlecruisers. Rear Admiral Tudor's report revealed that the root cause of the problem was the Navy's breach of safe operations, so he was transferred out of the Admiralty and kicked out of the Far East to take command of a bunch of dilapidated old cruisers to protect the interests of the British Empire in the Far East. Admiral Jackson was also replaced, and the new First Sea Lord, Admiral Jericho, the former commander of the Grand Fleet, very decisively declared that it was the weak armor that had caused the Jutland disaster, and then suspended the investigation.

This kind of thing is not difficult to understand at all. If the Navy's violations of safe operations are admitted, officers, and especially fleet commanders and captains who encourage such behavior, will be condemned by the public, and the Navy will fear a blow to the morale of the fleet, followed by a diminished will to fight and a loss of cherished and cherished traditions. So the black cauldron can only be borne by the ship design department.

After all, the ship design department does not have to worry about being condemned by public opinion, and there is no need to worry about punishment, and engineers can continue to shift the blame to various objective factors: inaccurate intelligence, technical limitations, and always inadequate shipbuilding costs...... They always find a reason, and it's all reasonable.

The unfortunate ones were only the sailors who served on the warships - although they themselves had to take responsibility.

Qin Lang retracted his thoughts.

"The problem now is that until the cause is found, the main fleet of the Japanese will not strike again, and the Russians will remain in Cam Ranh Bay and wait for reinforcements from the Baltic." "For many months, the main attraction will be on land, and the massive and fierce battles involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers will be exciting just to think about," he declared. ”

"Yes, the battle between Russia and Japan was fought on Chinese soil, but the Qing government actually declared neutrality." Yi Shui muttered, "It's ridiculous." ”

No one paid attention to him.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

PS: It must be said that describing the war is really not what I am good at, and it will take 3 or 4 days to use more than 3,000 words, which is really a tragedy (to be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )