The shelling of the Orlando was two starting guns, and more than 138 main and auxiliary guns on the 24 cruisers of the Chinese and British armies, which had been waiting for a long time, opened fire at the same time, causing a scorching hurricane to roll up on the blue sea, and the smoke of gunpowder even blurred people's vision a little. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Of these cannons, 68 belonged to the British, 8 of which were 9-inch guns with a slow rate of fire, and the other 60 were all rapid-fire guns. And the other 70 rapid-fire guns that are firing belong to the Ming Dynasty! Although the Ming Dynasty's cruiser formation had only 10 cruisers, it was equipped with more than 2 main and auxiliary guns than the 14 cruisers of the British. If it is compared to rapid-fire guns, it is a full 10 more. However, the officers and men of the Ming Navy who were in the midst of the war did not feel that their side had much advantage in firepower.

Lieutenant Yan Fu, who served as the adjutant of Major General Liu Yaxing, grabbed the binoculars tightly, and several black dots in the lens whistled towards the Wuchang, and the flight of more than ten seconds seemed very short, but for the people who were waiting for the shells to fall on their heads, it seemed extremely long!

Boom Boom Boom ......

The first wave of shells fell, and the most recent one even landed 50 meters away from the port side of the Wuchang, and the water column several meters high rose into the air, and Yan Fu even felt that the waves fell on his face!

And on the other side, 70 Chinese shells also fell around the armored cruiser Orlando, and not a single one hit. Since the warships of both sides are already equipped with radio stations. As a result, firepower can be used intensively. And the target of the first salvo of both sides is the flagship of the other side -- the truth that the thief captures the king first, and both sides know it.

Soon. The second round of artillery bombardment from both sides began again, and the flickering fireballs lit up one after another, and the tall water columns continued to rise in front and behind the two warships, the Wuchang and the Orlando, and it seemed that they were almost submerged.

On the Yongli in the distance, Yu Guibei was also watching, he smacked his lips and put down the binoculars. "The artillery skills on both sides are similar, and it seems that there will be shells to hit soon!"

I don't know who was hit first? Zhu Guohui licked his mouth. I silently prayed in my heart that the British's Orlando would be unlucky first.

I don't know if his prayers had an effect, but when the fourth salvo from both sides was fired, a Chinese shell that I don't know if it was or hit a lifeboat placed next to the two chimneys of the Orlando impartially, and the explosion and fire immediately rose from there. The Daming Navy walked the "deck washing stream". Not to sink, but to sink. Therefore, all the shots were blasting bombs filled with picric acid explosives and equipped with extremely sensitive Ijiin letter tubes. The explosion of picric acid explosives instantly produced high temperatures and toxic smoke, and also caused a fire, which not only smashed the lifeboat that hit it to pieces, but also ignited two other lifeboats, several lifebuoys, and some locks.

"Daming Wansheng!" Cheers rang out from all the warships of the entire fleet. Zhu Guohui sighed softly, and was about to pray again, when the phone rang in his ears, and it was from the observation post of the Yongli.

"Commander. The British ship formation sent 8 more cruisers! It's Leander and Iris, or you want to grab the T-position! Putting down the telephone receiver, Zhu Guohui shouted loudly.

"Fuck. Hood is really persistent! Yu Guibei scolded. There was no way for Hood not to be persistent, because the current situation on the sea was that the main column of the Chinese fleet was moving around the main force of the British fleet. The British horizontal formation circled on the sea, trying to turn the bow of the ship against the column of the Chinese fleet - this requires quite superb ship management and coordination ability, and it will definitely not be able to play with the Beiyang naval division that made the horizontal formation out of the herringbone array in history, but the British of the century-old navy can do it, but it is also very reluctant...... If all the time let the Chinese formations revolve around them. Sooner or later, it will be a mess. At the same time, 14 British cruisers and 10 Chinese cruisers exchanged fire while sailing in the northwest direction of the battlefield. Gradually it became a separate warband.

In this case. Arthur. Hood had no choice but to send 8 protective cruisers of the 6th Protective Cruiser Formation to intercept the Chinese fleet's column. These 8 protective cruisers all have a high speed of 16.5 knots, and although the firepower is not good, it is enough to really block them.

"Let Zhao Qilong's second armored cruiser detachment go up!" Yu Guibei gave the order without hesitation. The speed of the Saxony-class was tragic, the fastest was only 13.5 knots, so the main column led by four Saxony-class ships was very slow. Only a part of the clippers could be assigned to engage the eight protective cruisers of the British.

This time it was sent out 5 Chinese armored cruisers with a speed of more than 15.5 knots. They are all about 4,200 tons of unladen displacement, and a while ago a major change was made, replacing 2 2-mounted guns with 2 2-mounted tubes, and at the same time, the secondary guns were replaced with 8 barrels, and the firepower was almost the same as the latest Tianjin-class fast protection cruisers. Compared to the British's Leander class and Iris class, it is much stronger, even if it is 5 to 8, it will not fall behind at all.

Arthur. When Hood received the report from the observation post, his brow furrowed. Because he suddenly found that the clippers in his hands were all sent out. The Nelson-class and the Savage, as well as the Minotaur and the 6 gem-class ships that can still be used now, are all the fastest "slow ships" of about 14 knots. It is unlikely that they will be used to intercept the remaining 9 warships of the Ming ship column, and even if they are dispatched, at most they will be the same as before, and they will be exchanged fire in columns. Although the number of warships is 13 to 9, the firepower may not be superior, after all, the Minotaur class is a shelf cargo, and the gem class is just a light cruiser known as an armored cruiser, and the speed is slow, and it is already an old ship that is about to take a back seat.

"Why don't you use the Indian Empress class to intercept it?" Aspen suddenly made a request for Arthur. Hood laughed and laughed, "The three Indian Queen-class have a speed of 16 knots, which is the fastest of the remaining warships, and the firepower is strong, if you can seize the T-shaped position......"

Speaking of which, Aspen also felt that something was wrong. The Indian Empress class is a capital ship with a diagonal turret layout and ramming angles, which is specially used to fight horizontal formations! Go and line up a column to fight the side to meet the enemy? So what do you need for a diagonal turret layout? Isn't it okay to use the central axis to arrange? Don't...... Is the tactic of facing the enemy in the bow wrong? This is not good news for the British Empire! There are still 5 Indian Queen-class ships in outfitting! They were the key to the British Empire's supremacy at sea. If the bow of the ship against the enemy's horizontal tactics cannot withstand the actual combat test, then it will be ......

"Let's get the 2nd Battleship Detachment, the 3rd Panzer Cruiser Detachment, and the 5th Panzer Cruiser Detachment together!" Arthur. Hood said in a deep voice, "The 1st Battleship Detachment is still in horizontal formation, ready for a pursuit operation!" ”

Hood had already abandoned the tactic of using columns and horizontal formations to flank the enemy fleet, and instead used the method of exchanging fire between columns and enemy columns, and then pursuing them with horizontal formations.

"Thankfully, there are three fast Indian Queen-class, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to tell you what would have happened today...... ' Arthur. Hood gave Ray on the side. Aspen and the fleet staff gave specific battle orders, muttering in their hearts.

The current scene is, of course, that the British fleet has the advantage, after all, it is a numerical advantage of 44 to 24, and if you don't have the advantage, don't fight! However, the British Navy's tactics of combining columns and horizontal units that have achieved good results in the exercise have not achieved the desired results in today's actual combat. The level of training and command is far inferior to that of the British Navy's Daming Royal Navy, and it is actually at a disadvantage in numbers, with the columns and the British horizontal and columns maneuvering with great sound, if there are no three high-speed Indian Queen-class battleships, it is very likely that there will be an embarrassing situation of a draw between 41 British warships and 24 Chinese warships today...... It seems that the Royal Navy's sideways tactics are really problematic! (To be continued)