At this time, on the other side of the Chinese fleet, the navy was also carrying out combat operations. Vice Admiral Taijiro Nagata commanded two large battleships to lead the convoy to Busan. At 0:10 a.m. on the 16th, the ships began to enter the bay and at 1:22 a.m. they used the ship's 152-mm secondary guns to bombard the Chinese light ships there on blockade mission, and the battleships and cruisers withdrew from the battle after firing only a dozen shells, because Vice Admiral Taijiro Nagata did not want to expose his capital ships to the Chinese destroyers and torpedo boats. The sudden shelling caused the destruction of three old Chinese torpedo boats, and the wounding of two destroyers and a light cruiser, but the damage caused by himself was very minor, and through the heroic efforts of the Chinese sailors, all the damage to the Chinese ships was repaired before dawn.

After dawn it was the turn of the Chinese fleet to attack, although the weather conditions were not good, the clouds were low and it was raining lightly, but the two seaplane carriers of the Chinese Navy still sent seaplanes to take off to search, and at 9:12 a.m., the pilots reported the discovery of two cruisers and two destroyers, which were actually escort flotilla led by Vice Admiral Tsuyoshi Kimura to cover the landing of the Tsumoto Army.

A Chinese destroyer on a reconnaissance mission also discovered this fleet and accurately reported the position of the other side, and then not long after, the vanguard of the Chinese fleet appeared in front of him, and the light cruiser "Hainan" rushed forward, swooped down on the cruiser "Soya", fired two torpedoes at close range, and fired fiercely at it with its main guns, and a shell directly hit the bridge, killing the captain and deputy captain on the spot. A torpedo blew a large hole in the hull of the cruiser from Russia, and the old cruiser immediately tilted 10 degrees to the left.

This was followed by two destroyers led by Lieutenant Hu Hanming and Lieutenant Ha Hongwu, and these two destroyers also desperately launched a torpedo attack on the other cruiser "Tsugaru", a torpedo exploded on the port side of the "Tsugaru", detonating the shells stored there, and the violent explosion killed 13 Saimen on the spot. The cruiser sank to the bottom of the sea.

After receiving reports of seaplanes and destroyers, the escort fleet of the Chinese task force began to accelerate and arrived at the battlefield at 9:32 a.m. and joined the battle. By this time the cruiser "Soya" had already been seriously damaged by a torpedo, and the boiler room was flooded. The rudder of the light cruiser "Haimen" was destroyed. The already wounded "Soya" was hit by a near-miss bomb that hit the engine room and steering gear, causing more damage to the ship's hull. At 9:45 a.m., the "Soya," which had been flooded too much, capsized, and more than 300 crew members sank with the ship.

At the same time, the army transport fleet of 22 ships under the command of Rear Admiral Yunosuke Yamada continued its march, and on the morning of the 16th this fleet was also attacked by Chinese destroyers, but luckily did not hit by shells. The officers and men of the army watched in horror at the artillery fire and smoke on the sea in the distance, and although they knew that the trip was protected by powerful battleships, the fear of the Chinese [***] ship still permeated the hearts of every soldier.

At noon, an attack formation consisting entirely of torpedo boats under the command of Captain Ai Qingwen spotted the convoy and attacked, sinking two merchant ships in one fell swoop and severely damaging one, and the merchant ship was forced to turn back.

Throughout the afternoon, the transport fleet was constantly attacked by Chinese destroyers and torpedo boats, and these Chinese light ships were intercepted by the cruisers and destroyers escorting the ship, and both sides inflicted great damage on each other, and in the fierce battle, two Chinese torpedo boats sank, and one destroyer was seriously injured, while the transport ship "Harayama Maru" was hit and caught fire, and soon sank, and most of the army soldiers on board drowned in the turbulent water.

At 2:25 p.m., the light fleet under the blockade mission led by Major Wang Yuezhong launched an attack and sank two more merchant ships, and then these small ships, scarred by fierce fighting, turned to the east, and the officers and men of this fleet had already exceeded their task and began to return home.

During the whole day of the 16th, fierce battles were raging, and the scene was spectacular, with the sky covered with smoke from shells, Chinese destroyers and torpedo boats attacking, cruisers and destroyers casting smoke to cover the fleeing transports, and the ships and ships that were hit exploded continuously. By nightfall, Yamada's convoy had suffered heavy losses: most of the merchant ships and troop carriers had been hit, six of them were sunk, and only seven of the 12 merchant ships were able to move on, while Yamada's destroyers were packed with rescued overboard crews and army soldiers, and it was estimated that at least nearly 6,000 officers and men had been killed in the battle.

In his later memoirs, Yamada noted that "the prospects for combat were rather bleak" at the time, but he persistently continued to advance, at this time his destroyers were overcrowded and unable to fight, and the only hope was that Nagata Taijiro's fleet would be able to clear the area of Chinese warships.

Taijiro Nagata sailed forward to join a detachment of light cruisers, and Taijiro Nagata, who was in charge of the "Fuso," was in direct command of the battlefleet, which included the three largest battleships he had ever dispatched this time: the "Fuso," the "Yamashiro," and the "Zhoubo." The direct guard fleet that escorted the large ships was six destroyers led by the armored cruisers "Tsusho" and "Iwate" and the light cruiser "Aomori", and the commander was Rear Admiral Nakago Arakawa. The reconnaissance flotilla, on the other hand, consisted of three destroyers led by the light cruiser "Nonouchi," which searched for US ships in front of the main fleet, and was commanded by Rear Admiral Masayoshi Oshima. Taijiro Nagata's plan was simple: enter the bay to sweep and shell the Chinese fleet to cover the landing of the flotilla under the command of Yunosuke Yamada.

Not long after, his reconnaissance ship spotted that Li Jingxi's fleet was sailing here, but they made the mistake of mistaking the two Chinese battlecruisers for battleships.

At this time, the Chinese fleet was busy, and the "Shengli" and "Minquan" were put into combat readiness at 5:20 a.m., and all the guns were ready in a very short time. The task force was on alert throughout the day, gradually approaching the battlefield. The radio officers had been listening to the radio and the search and location instruments, and they had not missed any clues. At that time, Li Jingxi noticed that all the coordinated actions that his fleet had carried out were only high-speed voyages in the previous ten hours, so he ordered the fleet to form a column, with light cruisers and destroyers in front of the two battle cruisers, and the battle cruisers and destroyers kept a distance of about 5,000 yards.

This time, both sides put their most powerful and advanced weapons into battle, and the Chinese were two new battle cruisers, equipped with the latest sea search equipment and 406 mm guns, with thick armor and commanders and gunners who knew how to use giant guns and the latest tactics. The largest guns were the 356-mm guns of the "Fusang" and "Shancheng", the "Fusang" and "Shancheng" were the battleships with the largest number of main guns in the navy at present, and they both had six twin-mounted main turrets, and in his opinion, no ship could withstand the bombardment of a single salvo from them, and the "Fusang" and "Shancheng" also had well-trained crews, including excellent lookouts who outperformed China's most advanced search equipment. In addition, both sides have the advantage of night fighting, and both are equipped with powerful torpedo ships, which are a great threat to large warships at night.

At dusk, Vice Admiral Li Jingxi ordered his fleet to speed up. At this time, the captain of the "Victory" Scott addressed his Chinese crew: "We are entering the battle zone, we do not know what kind of enemy warships we will encounter, we may be ambushed, and some kind of catastrophe may befall us." But no matter what happens to us, all we can do is stick to our posts and fight! Fight! And my biggest hope is to be able to bring you all out safely, and I wish you all good luck! His remarks reassured the more than 1,300 officers and men on the "Victory" who had never participated in actual combat. In the second firing command room, Second Lieutenant Han Mingyu later recalled: "We have practiced a million times, but no one knows how the real battle is fought, and when the captain finished speaking, the atmosphere around him seemed quite pleasant, and no one felt scared or nervous." ”

The Chinese fleet continued to move forward, and by this time the fleet had completed the orders of Admiral Lan Jianshu, and now Vice Admiral Li Jingxi had taken full command. The night view was quite beautiful, the moon hung high in the night sky, the moonlight shone on the sea, sparkling, the weather was warm, and the sea seemed very calm. A U.S. lieutenant recalled that when the warship sailed, it was "as if it was taxiing on a thick layer of oil."

After nightfall, the radio officer reported to Li Jingxi that he had overheard the communications of some Chinese [***] ships, and that the Chinese torpedo boats operating in the area reported to their superiors that they had spotted Li Jingxi's fleet: "There are two large warships there, but I don't know who they are. "These torpedo boats appear to be intent on attacking Li Jingxi's fleet. Li Jingxi ordered the immediate radio call sign to the approaching torpedo boats, which had already been wounded and passed by Li Jingxi's fleet one after another after reporting the battle.

At the same time as Li Jingxi's fleet was sailing, Nagata Taijiro's fleet was also approaching the battlefield, and his position was not far to the northeast of the Chinese fleet. At this time, the main fleet was being divided into three detachments: Taijiro Nagata's main battle fleet, Tsuyoshi Kimura's landing fleet escort fleet, and Aramura Nakago's direct defense fleet. Just as the fleet was being separated and reorganized, the lookout of the destroyer "Kasumi" reported the discovery of an enemy ship, and then the lookout of the destroyer "Ha" also confirmed this discovery and identified it as a "large battleship". Aramura Nakago, who received the report, immediately gave the order to fight.

At 10:11 p.m., Nagata Teitshiro's flagship "Fuso" also spotted the Naka[***] ship. According to intelligence, Taijiro Nagata believed that the Chinese fleet had many destroyers and cruisers, so he ordered his light ships to approach only to attack the enemy ships, leaving the battleships ready for support and the final decisive battle. Fearful of the Chinese Navy's torpedo warships, Nagata Taijiro felt that the Fuso and Yamashiro should not be thrown into a wrestling with the enemy's light ships, as the previous battle off Ningbo had taught him a lesson.

For this reason, the attack force of the fleet was divided into three parts and pounced on the Chinese fleet, and the Chinese did not doze off, and the gun commander of the "Victory" was at his post on the upper level of the command tower at this time, and he ordered the 406-mm main gun to be loaded with shells, and the gunners completed this task in the shortest possible time with extremely skillful movements.

At this time, under the light of the moon, the main gun rangefinder of the "Victory" recognized the shadow of the ship in the distance through the main rangefinder, which was the light cruiser "Aomori". At this time, Li Jingxi was smoking a Hardgate cigarette on the bridge, and after receiving the report of discovering the enemy ship, he turned to Captain Sko with a smile and said, "Very good, let's get ready to meet them!" They're finally here! ”

At 10:37, the bridge of the "Victory" gave the order to "open fire when ready." After the ship's electric bell rang twice, the Victory's 406-mm guns roared and spat out dazzling fire. A few seconds later, the secondary guns also began to fire at the rushing destroyer. Immediately after that, the "Civil Rights" also began to shoot at the same target. Seeing that the situation was not good, Aramura Nakago immediately ordered the smoke screen to be released and turned south, explaining to his enthusiastic subordinates that he was planning to reorganize his fleet and prepare to wait for a better time to attack.

When Li Jingxi observed his movements from the bridge, an officer said, "It looks like they turned around and fled." "Then four Chinese destroyers began the pursuit. The officers watched the destroyers pursue through their rangefinders, and a little white fire shone in the distance. In fact, this is the destroyer Ben returning fire on the Zhong[***] ship, and behind the two destroyers, a light cruiser and five destroyers are heading towards Li Jingxi's four destroyers.

The four Chinese destroyers apparently lacked training and coordination in night combat. The first destroyer quickly latched onto the target and opened fire, the second followed suit and fired at the same target, and in a few moments all four destroyers opened fire on the same target, unaware of the approaching danger.

The light cruiser began a heavy shelling and fired torpedoes, but the torpedoes were all lost due to the close distance. However, his shells began to hit the target. Two boiler compartments of a Chinese destroyer were hit, seriously damaged, and all the crew inside were killed. The chimney of the second destroyer was knocked down, and then the torpedo tube on the starboard side was also hit, detonating the torpedo that was about to be fired inside, causing widespread and fatal damage. The deputy commander of the destroyer was killed on the spot, two turrets got stuck and could not shoot, and at the same time began to sink.

The sailors on the "Victory" were extremely shocked that the destroyer was sunk so quickly. The sailors on the "Minquan" also saw this, but they did not have time to grieve, when the rear engine room of another Chinese destroyer was hit, and the hot steam spewed out drove the crew out. The torpedo locking device was released by a violent shock, and the torpedo fell uselessly into the sea. Another shell hit the stern of the ship, detonating several shells and setting the destroyer on fire.

When the only intact Chinese destroyer spotted the warship that had suddenly been killed and was about to enter the torpedo firing position, a torpedo fired by the destroyer hit the destroyer, causing its ammunition compartment to explode, blowing up the entire bow of the ship, and the ship immediately lost power and its communication system failed. The warship caught fire, and the fire was out of control, and the shells on it also exploded, causing serious casualties. Soon another torpedo hit the hull, tearing the hull off, and the destroyer tried to turn to avoid the gunfire, but was unsuccessful.

Although all four destroyers were incapacitated, two Chinese battlecruisers began to move into attack positions, their huge hulls passing through the burning wreckage of the destroyers, oil slicks floating in the water, and crews struggling to float in the water. Despite the considerable losses, in Li Jingxi's opinion, his previous decisions and the sacrifice of these destroyers were worthwhile, because these destroyers blocked the torpedoes fired by the Yumoto light fleet at his battle cruisers. "It was a very admirable heroic action," Li Jingxi wrote in his report after the naval battle, "and it can be said that their sacrifice saved our battle cruisers." ”

At the same time, the "Civil Rights" also followed the "Victory" past the wreckage, and the crew could see hundreds of people struggling in the water, and Captain Mei Wenli ordered his own damage control department to throw the lifeboats into the sea, an action that saved quite a lot of lives, and the people struggling in the sea were still high-spirited, and the crew of the "Civil Rights" heard the shouts of the people in the water more than once: "Kill Xiao Yuben!" Kill them all, hurry! ”

At this time, the three battleships also approached the battlefield, and saw the Chinese battlecruisers passing in front of the burning wreckage -- the huge shadows of those ships were reflected in the raging flames, which can be said to be very eye-catching. The battleship immediately turned on its searchlights, covered the "Victory", and immediately opened fire. At the same time, the light cruiser "Aomori" and the four destroyers of "Aomori" also couldn't wait to fire a salvo of torpedoes at the "Victory", but to his disappointment, none of them hit.

(To be continued)