The fleet has passed through the island of Korehir. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

"The gun turned to starboard and fired at the location marked on the map." Giving an order, Dewey walked to the right side of the bridge and aimed his telescope at the south side of the channel. At first, he heard two loud bangs, followed by two more - the front and rear guns of the "Olympia" were fired - and the smoke of the explosion appeared in his sight.

Then there were more explosions and smoke. Immediately following the Rear Admiral's flagship, the eight-inch main guns and six-inch secondary guns on the "Baltimore" and "Boston" opened fire together, as if intending to completely destroy the coastal artillery positions of the Spaniards. But the sailors on the two ships were not the only ones intending to do so, and after a few more minutes, the "San Francisco", "Raleigh", "Petrel" and "Concord" joined in, pouring ammunition on the target with each of the ship's guns that could fire.

Of the thirty-six guns that could fire five inches or more, thirty-one were now being fired. Shells continued to fall near the target, and the rising flames and smoke formed a spectacular picture, which made every American sailor who could see it extremely excited and ecstatic.

However, Dewey did not expect the fleet shelling to really hit anything, he only wanted to intimidate the Spanish artillery, and at the same time create a puff of smoke to block their view so that they would not fire at his fleet.

But his artillery did it better than he had hoped.

Without warning, a frighteningly large fireball suddenly erupted over the Spaniards' coastal artillery positions, and the flames rose almost a thousand feet high, and a few moments later everyone on deck heard the violent explosion and a series of slightly smaller, but still louder than the shelling.

"It looks like we hit the Spaniards' ammunition depot." Dewey shrugged calmly at the officers around him, though anyone could guess that their rear admiral was excited. "We had a lot of luck...... Hopefully, this good fortune can last until the end of the battle. ”

"Of course, sir." Gridley replied. After a pause for a few seconds, he guessed: "I think the Spaniards are already frightened." ”

"I don't think they will lay down their arms and surrender to us...... Of course, I'm looking forward to seeing that outcome. Because he was in a good mood, Dewey couldn't help but make a joke. But his smile lasted only a short moment, and then he put it away and ordered: "Stop shooting." Accelerated to ten knots [Note]. I'm going to end the fight before it gets dark. ”

"Yes, sir." The officers all went into action.

Almost at the same time, Rear Admiral Montojo and his fleet staff also determined the new tactics to be employed. Originally, they planned to flank the American fleet with coastal batteries and battleships, and even if they could not achieve results, Dewey, who was on his back, had to retreat, but after witnessing the violent explosion just now, they completely abandoned this idea - even without considering the gunner's frustrating accuracy of fire, he could not achieve victory, and there was no hope. The eight-inch shells fired by American warships were capable of destroying Spanish warships and batteries like a toy - just like that ammunition depot.

New hope is torpedoes. With the exception of "General Leso" and "Velasco", all warships were equipped with at least one torpedo tube. Therefore, the operational staff suggested that, after the naval battle began, the entire fleet, with the support of the batteries, rushed to the American fleet together, trying to get into the effective range of torpedoes before they were heavily damaged, and then fire all the torpedoes at Dewey's flagship. In this way, the Americans would lose their commander and one of the most powerful cruisers, and even if the victory of the fleet was not guaranteed, it was better than a little result. And, if lucky, the Americans, having lost their flagship and commander, may retreat temporarily, so that the Philippines may be able to hold out until reinforcements arrive at home.

"It's gambling." Montojo said to his captains, "But it's the only way." ”

Gambling is always a risky move, especially if you put all your bets into a single round. But for a man who is already desperate, since he always loses everything he has, then betting everything on his own, he will end up with no worse outcome than doing nothing, and he can also hope that his luck is good.

And naval officers are usually superstitious about luck. In naval warfare, luck played a role that even surpassed the performance of warships and the quality of sailors. Now the Spaniard is going to see how good his luck really is.

The captains nodded silently, and then returned to the battleship in a dinghy; And before they left the flagship of Montojo, all battleships, except for the "Castile", lit boilers.

"Look at those plumes of smoke, Colonel." Dewey pointed to the smoke over Krabi and said, "The Spaniards seem intent on a real naval battle with us." ”

"It's hard to believe they would have such courage." After a pause, Gridley straightened up. "Sir, order?"

"It looks like we'll have to spare the batteries in Manila and Cavite, or ......," Dewey thought for a moment, and finally said, "Keep up the current speed, and all guns will be aimed at the Spanish fleet, but no fire will be opened until I have received my orders." Also, send an emissary to Manila to warn the Spaniards that if its batteries open fire on the fleet, I will shell Manila. [Note 2]"

Gridley passed the order and smiled. "At the current speed, we will have to wait a long time before we can engage the Spaniards."

"Patience, Gridley." Dewey said that, despite the fact that his mood was as urgent as that of a naval colonel. But ten knots is the maximum speed that the fleet can maintain, and it can't be faster. The rear admiral could only console himself - in the name of comforting Gridley. "Don't worry, time will pass soon."

"Soon" means thirty minutes - but in fact, much earlier, the lookout had seen the Spanish fleet, but Dewey decided to advance to a distance of five thousand yards from the target before starting to shoot, rather than as the Spaniards did, and could not wait to open fire as soon as he saw his fleet.

However, the fleet entered the battle sooner than he expected, and the Spanish warships had already left their berths and were rushing towards him, which Dewey had not expected at all.

By the time the fleet had completed its turn and occupied the T-shaped position according to the predetermined plan, the rear admiral knew that he could destroy the target.

"They really surprised me. However, the actions of the Spaniards will hasten their demise. He took out his pocket watch and looked at it, and said to the officer beside him, "It's four twenty o'clock in the afternoon." Gentlemen, a historic moment has arrived. Then Dewey turned to his captain, "When you're ready, fire, Gridley." ”

"Yes, sir." Gridley straightened up again, saluted him, and shouted, "Fire!" ”

After a few moments, the artilleryman, who had almost lost all patience and even wanted to shoot without permission, fired the shells out of the chamber. Then came the remaining six battleships. Just as the Agile had encountered a few hours earlier, a column of water rose in the sea around the Spanish battleship; But slightly differently, one also saw an explosion in these water columns.

"Hit!"

The cheers of the sailors gave Dewey a slight smugness on his face: after his arrival at Canton Bay, he led the fleet through rigorous training, and now the results show that those arduous training worked.

But this is only what Major General Montoho and his staff officers did not want to see. The first shot of the Americans hit the frontmost "Don. Antonia. The cruiser "Deuloya", whether because of their shooting skills or luck, the situation looks a little bad; However, in the time that they were surprised, the American five-inch rapid-fire gun had already fired three times, and then the six-inch gun came again.

Even if none of these shells hit, Montojo knew that his new tactic would have a hard time succeeding, but now there was no other option.

"Speed up!" He ordered, "Let each ship accelerate to its maximum speed." ”

Almost as soon as he shouted, Montojo began to curse his flagship, "Rena. The "Christina" never exceeded ten knots, and as the flagship, she was supposed to be at the front, but now she fell last.

And that doesn't mean she's safe.

In the front main turret of the "Olympia", the gun commander had already aimed at the cruiser in the Spanish fleet flying the flag of the rear admiral - she was behind and was moving in a straight line, which was simply the best target. But the artillery commander did not rush to fire, he waited a little longer, and then shouted: "Knock her out!" ”

Before his words fell, the two eight-inch guns were already roaring. The shells left the muzzle at a speed of two thousand and eighty feet per second and rushed towards their target. But one of them deviated, and only one completed its mission.

Montojo watched as a ball of fire rose in front of him. Purely instinctively, he threw himself to the side, and as he did so, waves of air and various debris swept across the cruiser's foredeck and open bridge. The rear admiral felt the Grim Reaper's scythe almost slash against his uniform, and the visceral fear almost made him scream.

Then he heard someone yelling. "Oh God!"

"Ha, we knocked out the bow of the Montojo flagship. Well done! Dewey exclaimed, "Gridley, tell our lad to just do it, kick the Spaniard's ass hard." ”

But the gunners are already doing this.

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Note: 10 knots is the maximum formation speed that the American fleet is capable of, because the gunboat "Concord" is only so fast

Note 2: Historically, Dewey's threat was issued after he destroyed the Spanish fleet, and successfully forced the Manila battery to stop firing (to be continued, if you want to know what happened next, please land on the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )